The Miami Dolphins have made multiple moves for salary cap purposes throughout February and March. Emmanuel Ogbah, Jerome Baker, and Keion Crossen have been released. Xavien Howard will be released at the start of the league year. Outside of the decision to not tag Christian Wilkins, the Dolphins have made the right moves. Now, it’s time for them to re-sign players and hit in free agency. Of the potential names to re-sign, Andrew Van Ginkel is just as big of a priority as anyone else. However, Miami will have competition for him as other teams, like the Minnesota Vikings, could have interest.
Brad Spielberger of PFF released his free agency predictions and landing sports for the top edge defenders on the market. In his predictions, he predicts that Van Ginkel will land with the Vikings.
“Van Ginkel stepped up in the absence of several Dolphins edge rushers last season and returns to the Midwest, where he played college football at Wisconsin, also reuniting with former head coach Brian Flores, who drafted Van Ginkel in his first year in Miami.”
A reunion with the Vikings makes sense with Brian Flores as the defensive coordinator. He also has some familiarity with that part of the country, being born in Rock Valley, Iowa.
Van Ginkel Wants to Stay in Miami
Despite Spielberger predicting Van Ginkel to land with the Minnesota Vikings, he’s made it known that he wants to stay with the Miami Dolphins. On “The Joe Rose Show” on South Florida radio station WQAM, Van Ginkel said he loves it in Miami.
“If everything works out, I love it here, our family loves it here and spent the past five years and I’d love to be a Miami Dolphins for a long time,” Van Ginkel said. “But at the end of the day, it’s a business and if it doesn’t work out and we’ve got to go our separate ways …. but that’s the goal (to stay in Miami).”
The Vikings could intrigue Van Ginkel as they have over $37 million in cap space, according to Over the Cap. With the Dolphins cap situation, they’d have to get creative and find a way to pay him. They’re doing just that with recent cuts and more could be on the way to help pay Van Ginkel and others.
Injuries Make Van Ginkel a Necessity
With the injuries to Jaelan Phillips and Bradley Chubb, keeping Van Ginkel around isn’t a want, it’s a need.
The Miami Dolphins defense underperformed last year. While some of that was due to injuries, allowing the 22nd most points per game was inexcusable for a defense that had talent all over the field.
With Phillips and Chubb injured and Anthony Weaver taking over as the new defensive coordinator, there has to be stability somewhere for the Dolphins.
Van Ginkel provides them with exactly that.
He’s an emerging star in this league and that was evident throughout the season. Van Ginkel was a defensive player who was involved in every play, something every defense needs. The cap situation makes it tough and a team like the Minnesota Vikings could benefit from that, but the Dolphins have to find a way to keep him around after a very impressive season.
Like Heavy.com’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy.com
The post Vikings Predicted to Sign Miami Dolphins Emerging Defensive Star appeared first on Heavy.com.