Free Agency is almost upon us. This Friday, the period for teams to sign free agents will begin, at 12:00 am, all 32 teams are free to sign free agents as they please, without being accused of tampering.

Today, Wednesday, was the deadline for teams to tender the players that they wished to place tenders on, to make it harder for other teams to sign them. Basically, the Dolphins would get a draft pick compensation from the team that would sign whichever players they decided to tender.

As it turns out, the Dolphins have decided to tender two of their free agents, running back Ronnie Brown, who is a restricted free agent, and tight end Anthony Fasano.

Brown was slapped with a first round tender, and Fasano with the "original round" tender, which means that since he was drafted in the 2nd round, any team that succeeds in signing Fasano, must give up their 2nd round pick in order to completely sign him.

Many believed that Brown was still under contract if the league failed to get a new CBA deal done.

For those of you that did indeed believe that, including myself, you were fooled. Both Brown and the team had a mutual option, and the Dolphins did not exercise the option on Brown, an option that was worth $5 million, thus making him a restricted free agent, and only making $3.97 this year.

This move not only saves cap room, but by placing the first round tender on Brown, allows them to get a first round compensation from a team that would choose to sign Brown. This would allow them to have a shot at not only filling a defensive need, but also to fill the void that Brown would be leaving, and sign a stud running back such as C.J. Spiller.

I would not have a problem bringing back Brown for the long term, but I am questioning his durability, and exactly how many quality years he has left in the tank. Not to mention that Ricky Williams is publicly admitting that this upcoming year could very well be his last unless he gets an offer he cannot refuse.

Both Brown's and Fasano's tender make it so that a team would have to be crazy to sign one of them to a contract during the free agency period. That is also the same strategy that most teams use when placing a tender on one of their players, the same goes for the franchise tag.

But I believe that the Dolphins have been starting to lay the ground work for a big off-season.

Why do I think this? Take a look at Example A:

"An official who spoke to the Dolphins said Bill Parcells ``has been on the warpath, telling his people he wants no leaks'' about their offseason plans."

Parcells has good reason to go around and say such stuff, because of the earlier happenings involving the "early" release of disgruntled linebacker Joey Porter. The leak of this information caused Porter's trade value to spiral downward, when the Dolphins had at least a chance of trading him for something, anything, even a 7th round pick. But this never happened because of the leak.

A big off-season would not only make the Dolphins much more competitive as a team, against some of the powerhouses in the AFC, but would also catapult them into perennial playoff contention year in and year out.

The Dolphins and the Trifecta have built this team from the ground up, and have used the right floor plans. They got the young nucleus, they got the depth, they got the franchise quarterback. Now all they need is a couple of playmakers, and some players here and there, and the Dolphins will be right up their with the elite teams in the league.

Remember, all of this planning starts with the tenders that the Dolphins laid on both Brown and Fasano today. This should get interesting as the days go by!