Danny Amendola is a champion, a leader, a valuable slot receiver who brings a contagious attitude and shiny Super Bowl rings into a Dolphins locker room that hasn't won a playoff game in 18 years.
Amendola is an aging name with a history of injuries who was a product of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and couldn't turn down a lifetime-achievement contract to play out his final, lucrative days in the South Florida sun.
It's never clear as the ink dries in NFL free agency whether you're playing the odds on a player another team let go or the odds are playing you.
But it's always so clear afterward, isn't it?
The Dolphins fear they don't have the fans' trust on their side, not after a 6-10 season, not after so many recent March decisions, not when just this week they've erased several once-touted signings, from Ndamukong Suh to Lawrence Timmons.
But the power of sports is such that Dolphins fans want to believe so completely in what's speculation, mystery and value-based hope they're willing to wave a magic wand to make the scars and sorrows disappear like Suh and Timmons.
Watch what happens now. Over the next six months, hope will get re-inflated. Faith will follow. It's a rite of spring more than baseball is in South Florida, this idea that tomorrow is forever a place, no matter what yesterday brought.
By the summer, the Dolphins will have smartly re-done their receiving corps, judiciously filled roster holes, created excellent matchups for coach Adam Gase's offense, fixed their defense, changed their locker-room culture and poured a full vat of hope on the 2018 season.
Never mind that, once the kickoffs start, we'll see if they've made the kind of mistakes of overspending and under-vision that will again become apparent on the scoreboard.
What matters now is following the process, as we often hear in sports. And the process is a renewal of hope once more. Two small receivers, an aging Amendola and a developing Albert Wilson, are seen as upgrades on a Pro Bowl player such as Jarvis Landry.
Defensive end Robert Quinn will impact a game more than Suh at defensive tackle.
A 32-year-old guard, Josh Sitton, who has been released by two teams, might be a good value play.
Quarterback Chad Henne possibly returning will get some worked up, considering the former Dolphins starter could be the current Dolphins backup. But wouldn't he just be insurance in case the Dolphins somehow don't use a high draft pick on a quarterback?
