Three days after the Dolphins surprised the football-following world and applied the franchise tag to receiver Jarvis Landry on the first day of the two-week window for doing so, momentum continues to build toward a potential trade.
Still, with Landry’s agent reportedly seeking a four-year, $58 million deal from the Dolphins (an average of $14.5 million per year), Landry now has at least $16.2 million in hand for 2018. Frankly, Landry should have already signed the franchise tender, pocketing the money and setting the stage for a shot at the open market in 2019.
The fact that he hasn’t signed the tender lends credence to the cockeyed theory that the Dolphins persuaded Landry to let them try to find a team that would pay him what he wants, with the Dolphins getting a little something in return -- with a promise that, if the Dolphins can’t pull it off, they’ll rescind the tender. The only flaw in this logic is that Landry would likely get more on the open market than he’d receive if someone trades for him.
Regardless, the Dolphins didn’t accidentally tag Landry on the first day of the period for doing so. They knew what they were doing, and what they may have been doing was setting the stage for a trade-and-sign scenario, with the temporary blessing of Landry.
Trading or cutting Landry would immediately free up $16.2 million in much-needed cap space. Which serves only to make the theory more plausible.
Whether the theory has any merit will be determined within the next week, as all teams descend on Indianapolis and take care of all sorts of offseason business.