Is this the opening salvo in a war over Landry’s contract?
Miami has only two more years of control Landry’s status as a Dolphin
Multiple Media outlets reported that Jarvis Landry’s agent Damarius Bilbo confirmed what we all expected–for the most part–that Landry will not hold out of training camp or the regular season if there isn’t a new deal on a contract.
Bilbo said that even though Landry would love a new deal, he has, and has had, zero intentions of holding out. He said that Landry is fully committed to the team and would love to be a Miami Dolphin for the remainder of his career.
BUT, he did say that there would be no negotiations after Week 1, if a new deal isn’t reached prior to the opening of the season.
While this is great news for the 2017 Season, it could be the precursor of ugliness in the Offseason when Landry becomes a Free Agent.
As a second round pick there isn’t a fifth year option in Landry’s contract, and the only power Miami has at that point is the Franchise Tag–which will be very expensive and is only a one-year rent.
Big Time players get paid big time–Landry is Big Time
One the good side, it again shows what type of player Landry is: He’s not one of these Diva players. He understands that even though he has completely out played his rookie contract, his four year contract has one more year left on. His current contract is going to pay him $893,850 this season, which would mean he will be making less money than at least 100 other wide receivers that are playing this season.
Clearly Miami is getting a bargain this season.
But will that bargain this year cost them Landry in the long term?
The best football software on the market has calculated that Landry should be paid around top 10 wide receiver money. Currently Antonio Brown has the top salary based on average per year at $17 million. After him in in order of the next top 9 receivers is AJ Green ($15 million), Julio Jones ($14.25 million), Dez Bryant ($14 million), Demaryius Thomas ($14 million), TY Hilton ($13 million), Doug Baldwin ($11.5 million), Keenan Allen ($11.25 million), DeSean Jackson ($11.16 million), and Larry Fitzgerald ($11 million).
Landry’s stats are pretty comparable with each of these players, besides his touchdown numbers, which are low. Last year, Landry only had 4 touchdowns, which would be the lowest total of these top paid receivers–tied with AJ Green, who missed games last year, and DeSean Jackson.
Landry and Wake are the heart of the Dolphins
However, Landry has intangibles that most of these other players don’t posses, and he also helps out in the return game unlike most of these other receivers.
Bottom line, Landry belongs in this category of wide receivers, which means he should be paid like these guys. But the problem lies in that he plays mostly in the slot, and slot player earn less than those who play wide. A multi-year contract that pays an annual average in the neighborhood of $11 to $15 million should be the going price–for a wide-out.
Landry might be an exception to that rule… but does the Dolphins brass believe this is the case?
Can Miami afford the price of a slot being paid as a wing?
Is Landry asking for more than 15 million?
One of these issues must be the sticking point… or else why hasn’t he signed a long-term deal?
Miami currently has just around $17 million left in cap space this season, so it seems strange that Miami wouldn’t want to use some of that to work out some sort of long term deal with Landry before this season is said and done.
If they don’t, then they will seriously risk letting Landry hit the free agent market in 2018, or having to franchise tag him next season–which would roughly cost them $15 million any way. There is plenty of time still before week 1 and the money is steep, but Landry’s nature is the foundations of a budding franchise and he and Cameron Wake are the leaders of this team. What are the rest of the Miami Dolphins News fans thoughts about this pending Landry contract situation?