Here’s the good news: the Miami Dolphins have hardly anyone of note on their free agent ledger for the 2020 offseason. Miami should have little issue retaining anyone who they choose to prioritize, given their surplus of cap space and the team’s promising finish to the 2019 season should have any pending departures eager to jump back on board and sign for another go around with the Dolphins.
But there’s still some needed strategy here on the part of the Dolphins. The team doesn’t just have unrestricted free agents like OG Evan Boehm and CB Aqib Talib (remember when Miami traded for him?). No, the Dolphins have some financial decisions to make regarding exclusive free agents — which could prompt some aggressive decisions to keep talent. Here are Miami’s restricted free agents in 2020:
SAF Adrian Colbert
P Matt Haack
EDGE Vince Biegel
LB Deon Lacey
LB Chase Allen
The Dolphins can retain any of these talents by tendering them with an “original round tender” according to the current collective bargaining agreement guidelines. That would cost the Dolphins $2.3M per player — and there lies the conflict for Miami.
Are any of these players worth a $2.3M salary in 2020? The Dolphins would surely love to have Colbert, Haack and Biegel back, at a minimum. But none of those three ideally warrant that salary figure — and so the Dolphins should roll the dice. Let each of these talents enter the league year on March 18th without a tender, become unrestricted free agents and then secure a renewed contract. The demand might be there, but the Dolphins know the players intimately and there’s value in them having been in the building for what Brian Flores is building.
The Dolphins should be able to have their cake and eat it too when it comes to the team’s 2020 restricted free agents — there’s no need to pay a premium, they should be able to secure renewed contracts for any of these players once the negotiating period opens in mid-March.
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