Miami Dolphins defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah is in the midst of a contract year with the team in 2021 — playing out the second half of a 2-year, $15M contract signed with Miami ahead of the 2020 season. And, to his credit, Ogbah has been an absolute delight to see play out for Miami. The veteran defensive end led the Dolphins in sacks in 2020 (9) and enjoyed generally speaking a career year with the Dolphins this past season.
Ogbah hasn’t been shy, either, about the prospect of a new deal with the Dolphins. His representation, NFL super-agent Drew Rosenhaus, has said on a number of occasions that Ogbah would like to find another deal with Miami to continue playing for the Dolphins.
And he’s doing his part on the field to earn one, too. Ogbah has just one half-sack thus far through three games — but sack production is only a small glimmer into the whole story for pass rushers. Ogbah has been persistent as a rusher this season and has been credited with 15 total pressures through three games (plus six stops in the run game). Pro Football Focus has him tied for 8th in the NFL in most pressures through 3 games and the analytics site has him graded out as the league’s 12th best EDGE defender through three weeks.
But even beyond the numbers, the eyeball test is quite telling for Ogbah’s play early on this season. He’s been excellent. And he’s motivated do keep the pressure on Miami until he locks in a new deal.
And, quite frankly, Miami would be foolish not to get him one. The addition of Ogbah at the price of $7.5M per season is one of the great bargains in football right now and should go down as a ‘win’ in the ledger of general manager Chris Grier’s personnel decisions. Ogbah will be 28-years old in November, meaning his next contract can come with him playing in his physical prime for the Dolphins.
Finding that price-point mid-season may be easier said than done and Miami is well within their rights to let this thing play out for a few more months to get a feel for Ogbah’s full resume in Miami. But the early returns in 2021 make it clear that the Dolphins could and should make him a priority to extend before next March.