Still a no show
The hoped for second coming of Dan Marino will have to be put on hold until Ryan Tannehill and the Miami Dolphins can hash out the ‘offset language’ issue of his pending contract. Tannehill was the only player out of 90, who did not attend the first practice of training camp on friday, and has officially missed his second day of practice today. This is clearly not a sky is falling situation, but it is a bit discouraging for a couple of reasons.
First of all the delay in signing Tannehill’s 4 year $12.6 million contract, is because of the ‘offset language.’ In laymen’s terms the Dolphins do not want to have to guarantee Tannehill’s entire 4 year contract, in case of the off chance of them cutting him before the end of his 4 years. Basically if a player is cut before his 4 year contract is up, and is signed by another team, the original team does not want the player double dipping by making two salaries. On the surface this is a reasonable request for any team. However, the one small thing that bothers me is that, even though the Dolphins organization is addressing this as a business issue, they are still inadvertently saying they are afraid Tannehill may not be on the team in 4 years. Honestly, the Dolphins insistence on demanding that the ‘offset language’ be included in the contract, is showing that they have a hint of doubt about his possible future with the team. Of the players that were drafted in front of Tannehill, 6 have signed their contracts, and not one of them has the ‘offset language’ in their contract. Those 6 teams are evidently saying, “we drafted you this high and we have faith that you will be successful and apart of our team for the next four years, and to prove this we will go ahead and guarantee your 4 your contract no matter what. And if there is the slim chance of you not being with us for the full years, we are still willing to pay your entire salary, because we believed in you from the start.”
Obviously the phins drafted Tannehill as high as they did because they believe he can be their franchise QB, but it seems a little petty and thrifty for them to squabble over a few million give or take. Tannehill is definitely in the plans for this season and hopefully next season he can win and earn the starting job, so at worst case he would be cut in his third year, if he were cut. So to squabble with their potential franchise QB over maybe $6 million just seems absurd. It is not like this team has not wasted money on underperforming players in the past. In this situation, the Dolphins should be the ones to man up and say, “you know what Ryan, we will guarantee the entire 4 years, because we know you will be our QB for the next 10 years, now suit up and go get ’em.”
The one thing that is irritating about Tannehill’s side in the dispute, is that he is losing valuable time with his teammates. At the end of the day he is still a rookie, and it is only human nature for veterans on the team to feel like, “shit this young buck needs to stop making demands and come out here and practice with the rest of us.” Being apart of a football team in the past, I know from experience that training camp is the best time of year to form and solidify strong healthy bonds with fellow teammates. Fortunately, Tannehill has a very good grasp of the offense already, but he is playing the most important position on the team, and now is the time to prove to his teammates that you can and will be a leader of men.
Sportsbook gambling fans can bet their phins season tickets that this contract quarrel will have a happy ending, but lets just hope no psychological damage is done. Hopefully the Dolphins will come to their senses first and end this before the end of today, so the rest of the phins news nation can worry about what really matters, like winning football games.
Why is this seen as a one-way street?? The fact that the dolphins want the extra year 4 clause written in the contract is no more an indication that they don’t believe in Tannehill, than the fact that he doesn’t want to sign it means that HE doesn’t believe he will be here in year 4.
If Tannehill and his agent are sure that he is a star in the making, and that he is worth the contract, and will be the franchise QB, then why worry about being a bust and getting cut in year 4??
This situation is not about Ireland disrespecting his player, it is about doing the right thing. Ryan Tannehill only had 19 starts as a college QB. He had his bright spots but he also had a lot of negatives. I really don’t think RT would have been drafted with the 8th overall pick if it were not for the new CBA where rookies have a much smaller salary cap. The new CBA makes it cost the team less if they take a chance on a high draft pick and that player turns out to be a bust. In other words we needed a QB, and the new CBA makes it a lot smarter for a team to use a high draft pick to “REACH” for a player with high upside, that might also be a bust. Because Ireland “REACHED” for a player that probably wouldn’t have been drafted in the top 10 last year, he is protecting the team by adding the obvious clause.
The bottom line is Ireland is doing this for the team and NOT himself. One thing is for sure, if RT bombs and is no longer on the team in 4 years, you can bet that Ireland will elsewhere as well. I believe in RT and hope and believe that he is the future on our franchise, but if I am wrong and RT is no longer on the team in 4 years I will be thankful that someone had the forethought to protect the franchise against a $6 million dollar cap hit, that might keep us from signing his replacement.
I agree with you fins fan. It is a two way street and you make a good point that there is probably a little bit of doubt on the side of RT and his agent that he doesnt make it through the four years. And yes they did reach for him at 8, but the pick is made and they appear on the surface to think he is the real deal, even though his resume is surely lacking, but this clause does show some deeper feelings that they do not feel 100% confident and shows that they themselves think they reached. Lets put it this way Andrew Luck and RG3 are not be forced to have this clause in their contract, because they teams feel 100% confident, regardless of the outcome. Yes Ireland is doing whats best for the team in the long run, but then it can be argued that we should have drafted someone else at the 8 spot. Question, would you have selected RT at the 8 sport if you were the GM or would you have selected someone else? At the end of the day I hope it all works out, but it the phins management is still doing the same blowing smoke up the fans asses, telling us how much they love a player, and then taking actions that show they have some doubt in the players ability.