The Miami Dolphins selected Andrew Van Ginkel out of Wisconsin in the fifth round back in 2019. After struggling with health and being in a situational role, they brought him back after his rookie contract. Following the 2023 season, though, they allowed him to walk with Van Ginkel ultimately landing with the Minnesota Vikings. And after one season in the Twin Cities, the pass-rusher has locked in a new one-year, $23 million extension.
Van Ginkel's pay raise is certainly well deserved. In his first season with the Vikings, he was a star for an upstart defense, recording 11.5 sacks, 18 tackles for loss, and with two pick-sixes for good measure. Even after drafting Dallas Turner in the first round in 2024, Minnesota recognized they couldn't part with the edge defender.
Dolphins fans, however, have to be wondering why they weren't the team that realized they couldn't let him go after a season like that. The answer, unfortunately, is that Miami put itself in a position where it simply couldn't keep him.
Former Dolphin Andrew Van Ginkel makes fans wonder what could've been
After playing in only six games a rookie, Van Ginkel became a regular rotational player on the defense. He was nowhere near as effective with the Dolphins as in his one year with Minnesota, to be sure, averaging just four sacks per season from 2020-23. At the same time, though, this was obviously there with him, so one could pretty easily argue that he just wasn't unleashed to the right degree in Miami.
However, the bigger issue with letting him go for the Dolphins was simply that they couldn't afford even the modest deal that he signed with the VIkings. With massive contracts now being doled out to Tua Tagovailoa, Jalen Ramsey, Tyreek Hill and others, we've seen Miami lose pieces in a slow drip, whether that's Van Ginkel, Christian Wilkins, Robert Hunt or several others.
What's brutal about that is that Miami has nothing to show from when they had that core intact. Playoff success has eluded them and, in the current state of the roster, it feels like their window of opportunity to contend is slamming shut as these pieces slowly trickle away.
Van Ginkel, however, represents the worst parts of that. The Dolphins truly couldn't afford paying the massive free agency deals handed out to Wilkins and Hunt. Van Ginkel, however, initially signed for just two years, $20 million with the Vikings, a deal that Miami seems like they were unwilling to match. They took a risk by not betting on a role player who they could still afford — albeit with some maneuvering — and it's backfired horribly as Miami could use that pass-rushing presence.
Big changes are likely still coming for the Dolphins this offseason. Ramsey is still likely to be traded. Hill's future remains uncertain with every cryptic social media post. The core that we thought had the goods to contend is going to continue dispersing. Van Ginkel could've helped to extend that window, but instead, he's now helping Minnesota open theirs.