He gets the tag which is worth $7 million. I believe this gives Miami the right to match any offer. Not sure if it brings draft pick compensation as well.

Just so we're clear, if Miami matches the offer but Clay opts for Team X do the Dolphins receive draft pick compensation?

How high of a pick is it?

Apparently they wont receive any.

They don't if there isn't a match. But I don't think matching the offer means Clay has to sign it. The only guarantee here is if nothing happens Miami gets Clay for 1 year $7 million. I think if Miami matches it he picks which team he wants. Again, I could be totally wrong here.

So is it a common fear that nobody who catches a pass will want to come back next year?




Maybe they figured out how to clone Landry, 5 of him and we are all set lol...

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Caution: Reply may contain sarcasm

Unfortunately no picks Jammer, just right to match any offer, so the Fins only have to pay what the other team offers, if they so choose.

Clay has the choice of not signing the Fins matching offer, but that means he stays on the tag at 1 year 7 mil, he can't choose the other team if the Fins have matched the offer.

Imo this is a 1 year re-prove it deal, I think they have faith in him, but not blind faith, which is good business, I think Clay is worth 1 more year of investment, he's a unique player with a knack for big plays when healthy, 1000yds and 10 TDs is within his ceiling imo, so you make sure before you cut loose someone like Clay, again, this is just imo.

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So how likely is it that another team will offer that or higher? Does this keep him in Miami this year or is it very likely someone else will offer that or more to sign him now?

There must be a plan to extend Clay somewhere in there. Having him eat up $7 mil in cap room takes away a lot of flexibility.

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Maybe they just need more time Rich? Doesn't make sense to eat all that salary.

I think there is a definite plan to keep him, they just don't want to bid against themselves.

Based on the moves and rumors I think the larger plan is starting to materialize for the receiving group and we even saw it last year without really knowing what was happening.

Miami likes Clay and will pay to keep him. Doesn't take a brain surgeon to recognize that Landry and Sims are in the plans as well. Does anyone think there will be a huge drop off from Gibson and Hartline to Matthews and Hazel? Gibson was always a stop gap guy and the Hartline/Hazel comparisons began immediately after he was drafted.

My money is on Miami drafting Wallace's replacement in the 1st or 2nd Round this year and Matthews' possible replacement later in the draft. By 2016 they will have purged all bad receiver money and move forward with their own group of drafted talent with tons of cap space to lock up Tannehill, Vernon, Jenkins and anyone else they value as core guys for the organization.

Am I correct in assuming that $7M for this year would probably be what his cap hit would have been anyway for a multi-year deal in the $5-6M/year plus pro-rated signing bonus, which leads me to my real question. If Clay gets signed to a new deal to stay in Miami, does the deal start in 2016, or take the place of the transition tag year and start in 2015?

I believe he has to sign the tag for that money to kick in. If they lock him up to a long term deal it simply replaces it.

No, that's the whole point of amortizing a bonus is to avoid a huge cap number in the first couple of years.

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I think and hope, we see a lot less of that now that Ireland's gone Rich, as a franchise you always want pay a player what he's worth per year, so a 6 mil per player, should make 6 mil per, in a perfect world.

The main reason is because it sucks to have to pay players like Wallace, Hartline, Ellerbe and Wheeler balloon payments, or simply being overpaid for 4 years and underpaid for 1, because of a low cap number for year 1, it's really more of a desperation move to create more cap space in the short term, this is a big reason why we're in trouble right now.

So we know it's not a perfect world, but those type of desperate cap moves should be saved for when your on the cusp of a SB, Ireland was doing it to get a winning record, it's like going all in after the turn, still needing cards, it might work, but it's not a smart game plan.

We've been conditioned to expect it as Fin fans though, thanks to Ireland.

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This is not an Ireland thing. This is an NFL thing. Every NFL team uses signing bonuses and guaranteed money as tools to pay a player upfront and protect themselves in the long run by fluffing up base salaries when the penalty for cutting a contract short is diminished. Contracts with a low base salary the first year and high base salaries towards the back of the contract are not a new concept that Ireland invented (as a matter of fact, it is Dawn Aponte who structures the contracts and she is still with the team).

To prove my point, look at Branden Albert's base salaries. They escalate every season. Albert was not signed by Ireland.

The cap issues caused by Ireland were not because of the contract structures, the backloaded contracts, balloon payments or escalating base salaries that almost every single NFL team uses in their contracts.

The cap issues are caused by the need to sign free agents to keep the team competitive because of the number of draft picks that have not panned out for this team over the last decade. And this problem precedes Ireland. The number of missed 2nd and 3rd rounders and even 1st rounders this team has experienced over the past 10+ years is why we're in the midst of gutting the roster and getting rid of dead weight.

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^^^
This is the primary reason Miami has struggled so much for the last 15 years. I don't understand how it can be so hard to draft players in the first 3 rounds that can come in and make the roster and contribute immediately on a team with so many holes. It's not just a Philbin thing, this issue goes all the way back to Wannstedt. Go back and look at the high value picks (1st, 2nd & 3rd) that have been used or traded to improve OL, DB, QB & RB. It hurts even more when new coaches come in and change defensive schemes and o-line blocking schemes and have to churn the roster again.

Shula & JJ.

Miami reaches for player a whole whole lot. Why I have never figured out.


Its because coaches do not want to build on what is there, they want to do it their way instead of adapting to what is already there.