Miami Dolphins wisely cut Cortland Finnegan, Brandon Flowers in cards?

The Miami Dolphins have one of the NFL’s best cornerbacks in Brent Grimes and adequate coverage from their safeties, but they were still just mediocre in coverage last season despite having an elite pass rush in front of them. Their 23.3 points per game allowed put them in the league’s bottom-half, and while they weren’t truly poor in pass defense, they underperformed and could definitely afford to nab a better cornerback partner for Grimes.

Yesterday, the Miami Herald’s plugged-in Barry Jackson reported that the Dolphins have had internal discussions about signing San Diego Chargers corner Brandon Flowers and criminally underrated Houston Texans versatile CB Kareem Jackson. Both of these corners are top-five impending free agents at the position, have the ability to shutdown receivers in the slot or on the outside, and are also among the game’s best 20 players at the position.

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It’s clear that the Dolphins are mulling over the idea of adding a top partner for Grimes to turn their pass defense from a middling unit into a potentially elite one, and they decided to take a key step in that direction today by cutting ties with vetearn corner Cortland Finnegan, per the Miami Herald’s Armando Salguero.

Finnegan’s release doesn’t come as a surprise to anybody, since there were rumblings that the Dolphins would try to ask the 31-year-old to take a paycut from his $6.48 million cap hit (the team will save $5.475 million). None of that money was guaranteed, so there’s no drawback to cutting ties with a liability at the position.

Last season, Finnegan had nine passes defended but failed to record an interception, and while he wasn’t bad after somewhat bouncing back from a shockingly poor 2013 in his final season with the St. Louis Rams, the former Tennessee Titans star clearly wasn’t worth over $5 million. He should be able to latch on with someone, but he’s reportedly contemplating retirement after, per Pro Football Focus, allowing 12.7 yards per reception, a completion percentage just over 66%, and a QB Rating above 100 in coverage last season.

Those numbers exaggerate his struggles, but it looks like the Dolphins have their eyes set on getting more productivity at the position, especially since $5.45 million in base salary for mediocre cornerback play isn’t exactly getting the best return on investment. The Dolphins can clearly do better at the position, and Jackson’s report is extremely interesting, since it seems like they are targeting the cream of the crop at corner this offseason.

Finnegan’s physical playing style is unique, but both Jackson and Flowers share his ability to cover corners both inside and outside, so it looks like the Dolphins are trying to go with a versatile star at the position to pair up with Grimes, who has shown that he can excel in a shutdown role. I find it mildly puzzling whenever people rank Grimes above the likes of Vontae Davis and Chris Harris Jr., but he’s probably in the top five at the position.

In any case, the Dolphins are looking at Flowers and Jackson, and I wonder if Flowers will be the easier one to sign. He’s older, but he’s also more likely to hit the free agent market despite the fact that the Texans and K-Jax haven’t officially come to terms yet. The rhetoric between both sides is very positive, however, and it seems more likely for Flowers to look to maximize his earning potential by hitting the open market, since this could be his last chance at a major payday now that he’s 29.

Whether the Miami Dolphins sign Jackson or Flowers, it’s clear that they would be getting a cornerback that is good enough to function as a No. 1 CB. After all, both players were their team’s top cornerbacks last season, and they had talented No. 2 corners next to them in the veteran Johnathan Joseph and TCU rookie Jason Verrett, respectively.

Even if the Dolphins don’t sign either of those two excellent options, it’s clear that releasing Cortland Finnegan was in their best interest, since the $6.475 million cap hit (there is $1 million in dead money associated with his contract) simply didn’t match up with his production. He failed to pick off a pass, and the fact that he wasn’t able to defend ten passes doesn’t look good in the face of the numbers of times he was burned.

He’s a serviceable corner who still has something left in the tank (we’ll see if he truly does decide to retire at the age of 31), but those players aren’t worth $6.475 million against the cap. I hope he decides to keep playing since he’s an easy player to root for due to his scrappiness, and, again, there should be teams willing to add him in some sort of a backup role.

While cornerback isn’t a desperate need for the Dolphins, it sure would be nice to assemble one of the league’s best CB duos by pairing up Grimes with a top free agent option. With Finnegan and $5.475 million in savings, the Dolphins have some room to chase after one of those guys in free agency.

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