How The Teair Tart Signing Impacts The Dolphins Draft Plans
Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
The Miami Dolphins have added another interior defensive lineman to their rotation, with the team announcing on Friday that they agreed to terms with Teair Tart. The 27 year old had several interested suitors including the Bengals, Texans, and Vikings, but ultimately opted to return to Miami near his alma mater Florida International University.
Defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver has made it a priority this offseason to sign multiple interior defensive linemen who all figure to be part of a rotation including Jonathan Harris, Benito Jones, and Neville Gallimore. Tart is more of a 0 technique than he is a 5 technique and is likely to compete with Jones for the starting nose tackle job, while Harris and Gallimore are expected to rotate in as 3-4 defensive ends.
So how does the Teair Tart signing impact the Miami Dolphins draft plans? In short, it provides Chris Grier the flexibility to take the best player available who happens to be at a position of need, rather than having to force a pick that is above ADP purely based on need. Beforehand, the Dolphins would have been in a precarious situation if they were unable to trade up for either Jer’Zhan Newton or Byron Murphy II.
Now that is no longer the case, because Teair Tart is good enough of a player to where Miami won’t need to pick an interior defensive lineman early in the draft. In 2022, Teair had a bit of a breakout season where he recorded 26 pressures and ended the year with five tackles for loss, one and a half sacks, along with a fumble recovery and an interception.
The reason why he was a free agent for so long was partially due to character concerns. After the Tennessee Titans used a second round tender on Tart to prevent him from hitting free agency, his relationship with the Titans’ brass soured. During the season Tart would post cryptic tweets voicing his displeasure with the Titans organization, while the Titans were not satisfied with Teair’s attitude, effort, and conditioning. Tart was waived by Tennessee in December and spent the rest of the season with the Houston Texans.
Teair Tart will have a fresh start with the Miami Dolphins, and thus another opportunity to change the narrative surrounding him. Tart has the talent to be a starter for the Miami Dolphins alongside Zach Sieler. If that comes to fruition and he plays well then the Dolphins coaching staff may be more appreciative of Tart than the Titans were, which could ultimately pay dividends for both parties. The Dolphins would have a cheap, yet effective replacement for Christian Wilkins in 2024, while Tart could set himself for a modest payday next offseason.
Overall, Teair Tart is as talented and affordable of a player as the Dolphins could find this late into free agency. Miami is in a position where they’ve needed to find affordable yet effective replacements for big name players who departed this offseason. So far, Chris Grier has done an excellent job of that. Regardless of how this season unfolds for Tart, his arrival in Miami provides the team with a lot more flexibility leading up to the draft.
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