Miami Dolphins vice president of football operations Mike Tannenbaum comes from the Bill Parcells school of roster-building. Tannenbaum watched all those years ago as Parcells built a powerhouse Giants team and took it to and through the Super Bowl with quality veteran pieces. Since assuming top roles, first with the New York Jets and now with the Dolphins, Tannenbaum hasn't shied away from this approach.
A week after adding veterans Byron Maxwell and Kiko Alonso and missing out on another well-seasoned player in C.J. Anderson, Tannenbaum again looks to be returning to that tried and not-so-true well.
The Cardinals have reportedly brought veteran running back Chris Johnson in for a visit. Johnson, 30, certainly isn't the explosive, record-setting player he used to be, but he proved last season with the Arizona Cardinals that if you put him on a team with a strong offensive line that can give him some space, he'll produce.
In just 11 games for Arizona last year Johnson totaled 814 yards and 3 touchdowns on 196 carries. He endured a broken leg that ultimately ended his season in Week 12, but were it not for that Johnson would have easily eclipsed the 1,000-yard barrier for the seventh time in his nine-year NFL career.
Really, other than a down year for the Jets in 2014, wherein the entire New York team struggled to produce, Johnson has been a consistently explosive and productive NFL backfield presence. Unfortunately, the Cards had no reason to keep him around after last year's third-round draft pick, David Johnson, showed out in the last couple weeks of the season, absolutely destroying the Philadelphia Eagles in one primetime game to the tune of 187 yards.
For the elder free agent Johnson, that meant a one-way ticket out of town, which could, depending on a couple of factors, be very much to the Dolphins benefit.
In today's NFL, youth is served, again and again. There's a reason most teams hoard draft picks - building through the draft is considered the best and most effective manner of creating a consistent winner. But as Parcells showed in the past and Tannenbaum showed when he was piecing together those AFC Championship Game-worthy Jets teams, his approach can be effective as well.
But as with anything, there's a balance.
At 30 and much closer to the end of his NFL career than the beginning, Johnson is likely seeking one more big payday.
The Dolphins can't (shouldn't) give it to him.
But that doesn't mean they should walk away from the negotiating table.
Sure, fourth-round rookie Jay Ajayi showed some promise last year, but losing Miller and missing out on Anderson leaves Tannenbaum and Co. mighty thin at running back. Ajayi, especially considering his injury history, cannot be counted on to lead the Dolphins backfield in 2016.
Signing Johnson, assuming he's not asking for the world plus a little extra in negotiations, would be a great first step to revamping the running back position in Miami. The second step will be an infusion of young talent via the 2016 NFL Draft, whether that be at No. 13 with a guy like Ezekiel Elliott (assuming he falls that far), or with any of their six other selections.
In the here and now, signing Johnson - again, assuming the dollars and years make sense - would be a smart move for Tannenbaum. Johnson would come in as the starter for 2016 and, presumably, hold that role down for however long it takes Tannenbaum to find a younger replacement or for Ajayi to assert himself as a full-time back.
Either way, Johnson would be just a short-term fix for a position (problem) that would, hopefully someday, see a long-term draft solution.
