Why the Phins did not tag Wilkins?

Jones is the bar for defensive tackles leading his position group.

He led all qualified defensive tackles in pass pressure percentage. Here’s a look at how the rest of the top pass pressure players at DT stacked up compared to Jones (stats via TruMedia, minimum 200 pass rush snaps to qualify, rankings in parentheses are for qualified defensive linemen):

white1 wrote:Yeah I’ve come full circle on Wilkins here is my current thinking:

- you can’t play very good players on an elite contract. If you’re going to pay for elite they better actually be elite. Wilkins is very good, no question. I don’t know if hes a blue chip difference maker.
- Phillips Waddle and Holland are rapidly coming up for extensions. Given we have Seiler, I’m not prioritizing Wilkins over any of them.
- since tagging Wilkins was never really a feasible option I wont get into it too much. But I would prioritize some of the bigger holes on this team: namely interior offensive line and pass rusher. I would be very excited to see Van Ginkel and Lamm come back. I don’t believe we will choose to retain Hunt he will be very expensive. We’re gonna need some journeymen at G and C in my opinion.

JMP wrote:The Dolphins are still trying to sign Wilkins, but they are not going to make him one of the league's highest-paid DTs - and they shouldn't.  As you point out, FF, as good as he is and as much of a leader as he is, he is simply not one of the best players at his position.  So the ball is in his court at this point.

JMP wrote:Wilkins was not tagged because we didn't have the cap space to use the franchise tag.

is it that they couldn't use the tag because of cap space or is it they chose not to use the tag because they didn't feel Wilkins was worth it?

mercury22nathan wrote:

JMP wrote:Wilkins was not tagged because we didn't have the cap space to use the franchise tag.

but i thought you kept saying that the cap wasn't a problem?  i thought they could re-negotiate deals such that they would make more than enough cap space?

is it that they couldn't use the tag because of cap space or is it they chose not to use the tag because they didn't feel Wilkins was worth it?

JMP wrote:

mercury22nathan wrote:

JMP wrote:Wilkins was not tagged because we didn't have the cap space to use the franchise tag.

but i thought you kept saying that the cap wasn't a problem?  i thought they could re-negotiate deals such that they would make more than enough cap space?

is it that they couldn't use the tag because of cap space or is it they chose not to use the tag because they didn't feel Wilkins was worth it?

We needed to free up about $30 million to get under the cap.  Franchising Wilkins would mean we'd instead have to free up more than $50 million.  Could we have done that?  Yep - but it would have been foolish.

white1 wrote:I do put the chances Wilkins stays in Miami quite low.  Call it 15%.

mercury22nathan wrote:question.  if Miami made what they believed was a fair offer last offseason and Wilkins refused and they knew they were never going to offer the type of money that he would accept (or could get on the open market) and couldn't afford to tag him, then would it not have been better to trade him last year as they would have at least gotten something for him (higher than a possible 3rd round comp pick)?

i mean, isn't that what the smart GMs do?

DolFan 316 wrote:

mercury22nathan wrote:question.  if Miami made what they believed was a fair offer last offseason and Wilkins refused and they knew they were never going to offer the type of money that he would accept (or could get on the open market) and couldn't afford to tag him, then would it not have been better to trade him last year as they would have at least gotten something for him (higher than a possible 3rd round comp pick)?

i mean, isn't that what the smart GMs do?

Except that would've left only Sieler and Davis available at DT on a team that was going all-in to win a title last season.

Again, Wilkins wanted out all along and that's why even before his sack breakout he deliberately asked for more than he knew Grier was willing to pay. It's classic millennial passive-aggressive behavior. Ask for too much on purpose and then when you don't get it you're "justified" in leaving because "they wouldn't give me what I wanted".

mercury22nathan wrote:but then how about non-exclusive transition tag this year.  i mean if Burns was worth 2nd and 5th - what would Wilkins be worth?  at least more than the 3rd round comp they might or might not get, right?  all the way around, i think Grier screwed this one up letting Wilkins go for nothing even knowing he wasn't going be able to keep him.

“There was nothing more that I wanted to do than to bring Miami a winner,” Wilkins said on a podcast with Jacksonville Jaguars defensive lineman Arik Armstead that premiered Wednesday. “Give this city, give these people, give this organization what it deserves. So that was obviously a lot of my focus, just to at least do my part.

“Whatever that was from a leadership standpoint, from a playing standpoint, community standpoint, I just always tried to do my part and put my best foot forward there. And just put, literally my heart and soul, into every aspect of everything while I was here with the Dolphins.”

Wilkins’ time with the Dolphins came to an end simply because the team couldn’t afford him. Neither the $22.1 franchise tag nor the five-year, $110 million deal he signed with the Las Vegas Raiders were going to fit into Miami’s relatively tight budget.

So instead, Wilkins was forced to head elsewhere.

“Obviously, now it’s different, it’s a little tough to move to another organization after you put so much into a team and an organization,” Wilkins told Armstead.