It has been a busy month for NFL contracts already. We’ve reached only the halfway mark of July, but we’ve seen a slew of extensions already, spurred on in part by the NFL’s franchise tag deadline yesterday.
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes finalized the richest contract in NFL history, Titans running back Derrick Henry locked himself in on a deal worth half of $100M and Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones inked himself a 4-year, $85M deal to stay in Kansas City as well.
For the Dolphins, monster contracts typically come from luring someone else to come to Miami — not rewarding someone for high level play while already here. The last extension the Dolphins gave of this caliber was the one to lock in Xavien Howard last summer, that came several years after the monster contract extension the Dolphins signed Ryan Tannehill to — a contract that reached nearly $100M back in spring of 2015.
Other big contracts since them have come in free agency, such as the Ndamukong Suh contract and the Byron Jones contract this offseason. So which current Miami Dolphin is most likely to earn himself a nine-figure contract? That’s a lofty landing spot — and you have to be one heck of a player at any position other than quarterback to command that kind of money.
There aren’t any trench players that Miami will need to consider at that price point currently on the roster — and the team’s secondary is the strength of the team but already locked in for the foreseeable future. Wide receiver DeVante Parker is the team’s best skill player and he has agreed to a four-year extension already this offseason, so he’s an unlikely candidate as well.
As such, perhaps the Dolphins’ best bet at this point in time for a nine-figure contract extension is someone who hasn’t played a snap yet — Tua Tagovailoa. Considering Tagovailoa just signed his rookie contract, he’s at least three years away from even drawing consideration for an extension, which means Miami has plenty of time to build the rest of the roster before having to worry about ponying up for a monster deal of any kind to someone currently on the team.
