This is what occurs when a team has a track record of making poor financial choices regarding the acquisition of domestic talent.
That’s the only explanation for Christian Wilkins’ impending unrestricted free agency status, given that he was the first piece of this current Miami Dolphins rebuild and was selected in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft.
The Dolphins apparently have chosen not to use the franchise or transition tag in order to keep the defensive tackle, even though he has fulfilled every expectation the team has ever had of him, including being a leader and culture developer in addition to being a scheme-diverse, durable top performer.
The organization or Wilkins’ agency may be using these leaks as a negotiating ploy, but whatever the case, the deadline of March 5 to utilize the franchise or transition tag will be a major sign of things to come.
In the event that the Dolphins choose not to utilize a tag, they will be making Wilkins, a five-year starter with 355 tackles, 20.5 sacks, six recovered fumbles, and four forced fumbles, available to 31 other NFL teams. These clubs will not be required to pay Miami in order for Miami to sign one of the top 20 free agents in the league.
That is dangerous for several reasons, particularly if the intention is to re-sign the 28-year-old. However, the Dolphins are accustomed to this.
Mishandling defensive lineman the team has drafted and developed is a lengthy and troubling history for the Dolphins.
Since Paul Soliai in 2011, when they signed him to a multi-year extension a year after using the franchise tag on the nose tackle, the Dolphins have not re-signed a defensive lineman they have drafted.
Kendall Langford and Jared Odrick were released by Miami as free agents. The Dolphins tagged Olivier Vernon, but he didn’t walk once they took it off since they wouldn’t match the New York Giants’ offer. Additionally, in 2019 the Dolphins permitted Davon Godchaux to sign as a free agency with the Patriots.
That’s almost ten years of the team being frugal with contracts for defensive linemen it has drafted, and it appears the organization’s mentality is to use the defensive lineman as long as they are inexpensive and then replace them.
To be fair to the team, the Dolphins did extend Zach Sieler’s contract a second time, a few days before the 2023 season got underway, giving the 28-year-old a four-year contract worth just less than $33.7 million.
However, given that Miami plucked Sieler at the end of his sophomore season and the Baltimore Ravens took him in the seventh round of the 2018 NFL draft, Sieler ranks among the team’s top waiver wire finds rather than a draft pick.
One of the possible issues with using the tag to keep Wilkins is Sieler’s contract. For $8 million a year, Sieler had a season that was statistically comparable to Wilkins’.
Does Wilkins have a higher net worth than this?
This will most likely be decided by the free agent market.
Given that the Dolphins must free up $31.6 million in budget space before the start of the new league year on March 13, exposing Wilkins to the open market might spark a bidding war in which Miami is unable to take part.
Wilkins is vying for a multi-year contract that would place him among the NFL’s top five defensive lineman earners. That would necessitate a four- or five-year contract that guarantees him roughly $55-70 million and pays him more than $19 million per season.
As a result, Miami might outbid rivals for Wilkins’ services, and it might help that they are not subject to state income taxes. The Dolphins might, however, also determine that it would be better to allocate those resources to more than one player.
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