FREE AGENCY FRENZY! GET EXCITED!

Although no players can offically be signed until Friday, for all intents and purposes free agency will start tomorrow at 10 am. Agreements can be reached and will be finalized on Friday.

2 big names already cut today are Todd Heap and Willis McGahee

The buzz going around in terms of Dolphins' news is:

A trade for Den QB Kyle Orton 

Free agent RB's Ahmad Bradshaw and DeAneglo Williams

We will have to wait and see but be sure to check out which players around the league are free agents !

Below is a list of the Dolphins' UFA's

Unrestricted Free Agents

Ronnie Brown, RB

Patrick Cobbs, RB

Tony McDaniel, DL

Pat McQuistan, OL

Quentin Moses, LB

Chad Pennington, QB

Cory Procter, OL

Tyler Thigpen, QB

Ricky Williams, RB

Below is the FULL list of every free agent in the NFL

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/dolphins_in_depth/

Has the fat lady sang? Is it over? Can I move on with my life? Yes! Football is back. THE LOCKOUT IS OVER !! So I have one question for you: ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL!!!!!

Looking back at the lockout, what exactly did we miss? Well we lost the Hall of Fame game (WHO CARES) and we lost Hard Knocks (WORSE THINGS HAVE HAPPENED) and we had to push back Free Agency and Trade (ANNOYING). So technically, this mess just spun our heads round and round but we really didn’t suffer that much. No games were missed and aside from HOF game none of the pre season games were even lost.

As far as Dee Smith and Roger Goodell go, yes it was their job to get this thing done but they did it. We are not missing any football and the deal is done, so good for you Goodell and Smith. Well done and thank you! 

Now that it’s over, here are the dates you should pay attention to:

07/25/2011 – National Holiday – National Ratification Day

Per NFL

Dolphins will report to camp Thursday

July 26 — Team facilities will be open for voluntary training, conditioning and classroom instruction.

Teams can sign their drafted players, as well as undrafted free agents.

The trading of players can begin.

Teams can negotiate, but cannot sign or give offers sheets to their own unrestricted free agents, restricted free agents and franchise players

July 28 — Beginning at 4 p.m. ET, teams can begin to waive or terminate players.

July 29 — Unrestricted free agency begins July 29 at 6 p.m. and clubs can begin signing players — their own or other teams’ players. No payment can be made to players until a CBA is signed.

Aug 4 — The league year can begin no later than today.

Also take note there is already buzz going around that Orton to Miami is a very real possibility

So buckle your chin strap and get excited because free agency frenzy is on its way!

“Welcome back football.” That was Adam Schefter’s tweet Saturday night following reports that the players are expected to ratify a new CBA today, effectively ending the longest work stoppage in NFL history just in time for training camp and a full preseason slate minus the Hall of Fame Game.

We’ve been let down time and time again in this process, but now it appears there is finally some validity to our optimism. Once the new CBA is officially in place, reports now have it that free agency will open anywhere from Tuesday to Friday and training camps likely a week from today. That should give teams a little more time than expected to fill out their rosters before opening, but it’s still going to be a crazy week to say the least.

One unit where we shouldn’t see much activity is the offensive line. Tony Sparano’s specialty is the offensive line, but you wouldn’t have been able to tell it by watching the Dolphins’ offense a year ago.

Jake Long was once again all-world at left tackle and while Vernon Carey seemingly continues to gradually digress, he was adequate on the other side. In between the tackles was nothing short of a nightmare.

Jeff Ireland took a calculated risk to save a little cash by cutting ties with starting center Jake Grove, who may have been overpaid, but contrary to popular belief, played a huge role in enabling the Dolphins’ running game to rise to top five status in 2009. Joe Berger was nowhere near capable of picking up where Grove left off and was subsequently, in my mind anyway, the first screw to come loose in the collapse of what should have been a solid offense.

Richie Incognito was average, if not mediocre at left guard and rookie John Jerry struggled on the right side to round out one of the league’s worst interior O-lines. The Dolphins are counting on first-round pick Mike Pouncey and possibly the return of Nate Garner to shore up the interior in hopes of returning to ground and pound Tony Sparano football in 2011.

WHAT TO EXPECT IN FREE AGENCY
The consensus around the team is that the Dolphins are content with what they have and probably won’t look to free agency to acquire a starting caliber lineman despite huge question marks at both guard spots. Those questions don’t come without potential answers, however.

The Dolphins will likely entrust Richie Incognito with the left or right guard spot and hope either John Jerry steps up his game in year two or Nate Garner is ready to cease one of the openings after being penciled in as the starting left guard in training camp last season before being lost for the year with a broken foot.

SAFE

Jake Long: The top lineman in the entire league and the best player on the roster will, needless to say, safely and soundly make the 53-man roster. We already knew he was as dominant of a left tackle as they come, but he also revealed how much of a warrior he is in 2010 by playing through a dislocated shoulder for the second-half of the season. The offense opens up training camp with uncertainty all over the field, but the one thing fans can count on is Jake Long. That’s not going to change anytime soon.

What should have been a smooth voting process considering all major details of a new CBA have been agreed upon, turned to chaos last night as the owners apparently tried to sneak in a few details that had not been discussed into the deal they passed by vote.

The players have been very outspoken about their disproval of the owners’ tactics, but it appears things have been smoothed over to some degree this morning, with a vote now expected to come by the players possibly today, but more likely this weekend.

If all goes as planned and we don’t have any more unexpected surprises, free agency and training camp will still open on Wednesday. But it’s probably going to take the players swallowing some pride and taking one on the chin here to finally put this lockout in the rearview mirror.

We have a few preview-able positions left on the Dolphins’ roster before camp kicks off. Among them, the offensive line, tight ends, and inside linebackers. Let’s finish off the defense today with Karlos Dansby, Channing Crowder, and company.

WHAT TO EXPECT IN FREE AGENCY
Many fans wouldn’t mind seeing the Dolphins clean their hands of Channing Crowder, who has seemingly been all bark and no bite in the past couple years. But the Dolphins are still high on him it appears. They wouldn’t have put up with his mouth for this long if they weren’t. I still see Crowder being paired with Karlos Dansby for the time being, with the Dolphins probably not considering a starting caliber addition until at least 2012.

With A.J. Edds returning from injury, the Dolphins also have who they hope will be an excellent coverage linebacker who can spell Crowder on passing situations. There really doesn’t appear to be much work for Jeff Ireland here in free agency. They could add a camp body with the inflation of the roster from 80 to 90, but they opened camp with six inside linebackers a year ago and already have that many.

SAFE

Karlos Dansby: His production from 2010 won’t blow you away, but Karlos Dansby was surely the addition the Dolphins’ defense was desperate for last offseason. He flashed some of the playmaking ability Miami acquired him for with 3.0 sacks and 2 forced fumbles, but Mike Nolan’s unit benefited the most from his coverage ability.

Dansby repeatedly was able to cover 20 to 30 yards down the field with the speed to run stride for stride with many running backs and tight ends. He was a huge acquisition for the defense a year ago and the optimism surrounding that side of the ball heading into 2011 probably wouldn’t be possible without him.

Phins Phocus readers, we have just added an interview tab at the top of our main page to make it easier for you guys to access all of our interviews.  All interviews will be placed in that tab, including the ones we have done with NFL Network's Jason La Canfora, Charles Davis, Michael Lombardi and Albert Breer along with some of your favorite Dolphins like Davone Bess.

Also pretty big news, we're expecting to have an interview with Pro Bowler Randy Starks sometime next week, so stay tuned!