The mystery is over. The Miami Dolphins have had fans carefully eyeing the status of wide receiver Albert Wilson this offseason — the veteran receiver was due for a big salary in 2020, which made him an obvious cut candidate as the Dolphins continue to reshape their roster in year two of the team’s rebuilding effort. But we now know that Wilson isn’t likely to be on the chopping block come cutdown time thanks to a contract restructure, a decision that will save the Dolphins up to nearly $7M in 2020 salary cap space and allow Wilson to prove his worth this season on a reduced salary.
The Dolphins and WR Albert Wilson have agreed to a renegotiated deal for 2020 worth base value of $3M, with $1M more via incentives. Wilson gets the chance to produce in a system he knows then hit the market as a free agent next offseason.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) May 5, 2020
Wilson’s base salary was initially scheduled to run Miami $9.5M in 2020, which will be the third and final year of his initial contract with the Dolphins. Miami had initially signed Wilson to replace WR Jarvis Landry in South Florida, a decision that looked to be strong until durability issues caused Wilson to miss the second half of 2018 with a hip injury.
Wilson was back in 2019 but failed to show the same level of dynamic play — which left his future with the team in doubt until now.
With a drastically reduced salary, it is safe to assume that Wilson will be given a chance to claim the team’s role as a slot receiver and be the run after catch threat he was when healthy in 2018. Miami’s patience for a wide receiver paid off in 2019 in the form of DeVante Parker, who finally lived up to his expectations as a former 1st-round NFL Draft selection and burst onto the scene last year. If the Dolphins were to get anything closely resembling the breakout from Parker out of Wilson — the team will have struck gold yet again.
A more likely scenario? Wilson will play out the 2020 season with Miami on a reduced salary and then hit the open market while the Dolphins look for a more durable and younger speed threat for their offense courtesy of the 2021 NFL Draft.