Las Vegas Raiders will take on new-look Miami Dolphins in Week 16

Las Vegas Raiders will take on new-look Miami Dolphins in Week 16

Miami Dolphins additions and subtractions

The Dolphins were accused before the season of trying to tank for Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, and through a twist of fate that saw Joe Burrow become QB1, and Tua suffer a brutal injury, they were still able to select him with the fifth overall pick. Aside from the Tagovailoa selection, the Dolphins had two other first round picks and made eight more selections from rounds 2-7.

Their rookie class will be the talk of the town as they used three picks to rebuild their offensive line and five others to rebuild the worst defense in the NFL. Tagovailoa is the headliner, but cornerback Noah Igbinoghene out of Auburn is another key figure and could add more talent to an already good CB group.

In addition to the boatload of draft picks, the Dolphins used their ample cap space to make some huge splashes in free agency. The star acquisition was cornerback Byron Jones from Dallas, who they made the highest paid cornerback in the league. The Raiders were in the hunt for Jones but they decided the deal was too rich for their blood.

Kyle Van Noy was another player linked to the Raiders but he and Elandon Roberts left the Patriots to join their former defensive assistant in Miami. They added two other defensive ends in Emmanuel Ogbah and Shaq Lawson to improve a pass rush that was also the worst in the league.

On offense, they brought in former Eagles running back Jordan Howard to add some power to their backfield, and give them a workhorse to take some pressure off Tagovailoa. Miami also traded for former 49ers running back Matt Brieda to add some speed to complement Howard’s power in the backfield.

They failed to add any other notable weapons, but they have clearly made it a priority to protect their young quarterback as he develops.