The Miami Dolphins continue to send shock waves throughout the NFL as they actively explore every avenue to improve the team in day one of free agency. After landing the top wide reciever in Mike Wallace and the top linebacker in Dannell Ellerbe, Miami set its sights on LB Philip Wheeler, quickly signing him to a five year $26 million deal with $13 million guaranteed.

While the Dolphins were expected to land a big name wide reciever, the additions of two linebackers came as more of a surprise. In Oakland last season, Wheeler accumulated a career high 109 total tackles, 3 sacks and 2 forced fumbles. Although it is a high price to pay for a player who has had only one terrific year, Wheeler showed continuous improvement from his rookie season to the current point in his career.

Jeff Ireland has made it a point of emphasis to acquire players who are already in, or entering their prime by adding the 28 year old Wheeler, a 27 year old Ellerbe and releasing a 31 year old Karlos Dansby and a 30 year old Kevin Burnett. These moves  will ensure that the Dolphins stout defense continues to play at a high level for many years to come.

Going forward into free agency, the Dolphins should have enough cap space to sign at least one more impact starter. The team has showed its desire to provide Ryan Tannehill with a variety of weapons therefore it can be expected that the team will add another reciever. With the departure of Anthony Fasano, tight end becomes a more prominent need however it can be addressed on the open market as well as in the draft. Cornerback remains rather thin but Miami is fortunate that there are many options in the draft and free agency to chose from. In the coming days the Jake Long situation will become more clear with there being an increasing possibilty that he returns to Miami on a deal favoring the team. As it stands, the Dolphins have glaring holes at tight end, cornerback and offensive line with the assets in both picks and cap space to cover them.

Thus far, the Dolphins added three players in their prime including a deep threat to their offense and linebackers to shore up the defensive front seven. All in all, this is a pretty impressive start to the 2013 league year for Miami.

The Dolphins finally got the guy they wanted. After striking out with Peyton Manning, Jeff Fisher the Dolphins targeted a guy and were able to deliver. Today the Dolphins took a major step forward in bolstering their receiving core. A team that sorely needed speed and playmaking ability signed one of the leagues fastest playmakers.

RT @JeffDarlington Wallace is indeed on the verge of becoming a Dolphin, Im told. He's taking physical. The sides have reached an agreement

RT @ClaytonESPN reports Dolphins give Mike Wallace a five-year deal worth up to $65 million. 30 mil guaranteed 

The Dolphins knew Wallace wouldn’t come cheap and did everything they thought they had to in order to bring the wide out to Miami.

Mike Wallace has the ability to make big plays, find the end zone and brings a dynamic aspect to this offense that was sorely missing. Wallace’s deep ball ability helps the defense respect the big play and opens up other options for this offense that struggled making plays last season. Wallace who ran a 4.33 40 yard dash at the NFL scouting combine is viewed by most as the NFL’s fastest WR.

Wallace stats with the Steelers combined to a total of 4042 yards 32 touchdowns.

Wallace’s signing could also lead to a change in culture from a team that was afraid to throw the deal and trained to have a run first mentality. Now, finally catching up to the rest of league the Dolphins will look top open things up. Wallace has averaged 17.2 yards per receptions and a very respectable number. In 2 games against the Dolphins Wallace piled up 2 touchdowns and 117 yards.

The first and biggest piece of free agency is now settled, there is still plenty of work left to do with this roster however this is a move many thought had to happen. Credit to Ireland for finally closing. 

Bang!!'!!!!

After agreeing to terms with Mike Wallace on a 5 year 65 million dollar deal, the Dolphins have signed a juggernaut at line backer...wait for it...Dannell Ellerbe ILB of the Super Bowl Champion Baltimore Ravens.  Ellerbe had 92 tackles and 4.5 sacks. He should fit in nicely with the teams year old 4-3 scheme and bring speed to the linebacking corps.

The deal was reported by various media outlets but was confirmed by Adam Schefter of ESPN.  

Terms of the deal were 5 years for 35 million.  

So, that begs the question what will the Dolphins do with KarlosDansby?  We just found out.  

Dansby has been cut by the Miami Dolphins.  Omar Kelly of the Sun- Sentinel reported the story mentioning that Dansby was asked to take a pay cut and he declined.  

The release creates 3.9 million in cap space for the Dolphins and allowed the Dolphins flexibility to sign Ellerbe and other free agents on Miami's target list.

Earlier, and just prior to the Ellerbe signing, the Dolphins re-signed free-safety Chris Clemons to a one year deal.  The deal was reported by Jeff Darlington of the NFL network who saw agent Drew Rosenhaus entering the Dolphins facility.  This signing was somewhat surprising because it was expected that Clemons would test the market.  As of now, a one year deal could mean the Dolphins will be looking to add depth to the position in this year's draft.

Much more to come as Jeff Ireland is aggressively making the Dolphins into a winner!

It's great to be a Dolfan today!

In the song Eminem tracked for the motion picture 8 Mile, he talks about getting "one shot, one opportunity and one that comes once in a lifetime."

Jeff Ireland is at a cross roads with the Dolphins franchise and fans come tomorrow at 4PM. 

All weekend long, the Dolphins’ front office has been burning the phone lines to lure the likes of free agents Mike Wallace, Jared Cook, Eric Winston, and many others to South Florida for a revival unseen since last year’s spending frenzy by Jeffrey Loria of the Miami Marlins or Miami Heat in 2010. 

In one example, you have a franchise (Marlins) predicated on pitching development in the minors with a blending of free agents from rival teams.  On the other hand, the Miami Heat who have been the team that South Florida has all of a sudden taken ownership of after winning their second world title and have the best basketball player in the NBA in LeBron James.  From both examples, the Miami Heat have become second nature in the closets of most Dolphins fans with James and Wade jerseys. As for the Marlins, their spending frenzy lead to disappointment after a season in their new home Marlins Park and a win loss record that fell short of making the playoffs.  The result, their owner, Loria decided to sell off  his talented high priced talent and send them packing to Toronto Canada.  For the Marlins, this is nothing new, except they used to only sold players after winning championships.

Picture this, the Miami Dolphins bring the Lombardi back to South Florida. What a site that will be! That’s right South Florida, a region that makes up Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties.  This is the area of Florida that has the richest football talent.  All of the best football players come from Florida, but don't stay in Florida.  The University of Miami used to have market share if you will of this entire area.  

See, the Miami Dolphins, the darlings of the NFL in the 1970s and 1980s, with an upcoming logo unveiling and finally the prospect of 400 million dollar renovations need to come through during free-agency this week.  They must target and reel in the big names.  

Ireland needs to strike quickly when the offers become real and agents aren’t just throwing numbers out.  Jeff Ireland is looking to re-stock both his offense and defense to make the Dolphins playoff bound.  Ireland must load up with the estimated 31 million in cap room after mortgaging the future on Brian Hartline for 30.775 million and Matt Moore for another 8 million dollars. Deals that by some estimation seemed overly generous by some media members and a sign that these players had real value to the Dolphins and no one else. 

To achieve greatness and build a playoff caliber team, the Dolphins GM must act fast and have his hands all over every burner phone he can get to.  Every potential free agent needs to have a meeting with Ireland.  On one hand he has to have Mike Wallace in the building signing the larget contract for a wide receiver and other potential free agents waiting just outside his office.

The headquarters for the Dolphins in Davie, Florida must be open for business all week long and not worry about spending time or money on renovating locker rooms.  Ireland must have theese guys that will be signed, sealed, and delivered for 2013 and beyond.

Most Dolfans can’t even stand any more bad news at this point.  If Ireland still has 31 million in cap room left by tomorrow evening, we’ll know something has gone terribly wrong and the next GM can come in and take the surplus of cap room and use it wisely next year.  Remember, this is it, "you only get one shot…do you capture it…or let it slip."

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For those interested, @phinsnation + @phinsrock and myself hosted a podcast on a variety of different Miami Dolphins related topics.

Here is the link

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/miami-dolphins-talk/2013/03/11/dolphin-talk