Transition tag according to Adam Schefter. $7 million. Glad to have him back. Much needed weapon for Tannehill.
Right, but I'm not expecting that to happen. They obviously want him to stay. This is a way to assure he does.
With question marks at the receiver spot, I like this move. Dare I say, it even looks financially responsible?
$7 mil is at the very upper end of what I would pay, but he is (when healthy) a weapon and it's best to not create a hole where there is none, so I like the move.
A $7M cap hit would've ranked Clay 5th in the league in 2014, behind Witten ($8.4M), Marcedes Lewis ($8.25M), Greg Olsen ($7.8M), and Vernon Davis ($7.3M).
nobody is going to pay him 7mil+... he's only a 5m TE...... bad move overpaying that seems to be a miami theme.
The draft is looking rough for tight ends, and clay is without a doubt the top TE in FA. he'd have gotten more than he's worth. Also his long term deal that we are probably working on will be less than that 7mil indicates Edit: forgot Julius thomas is hitting FA now, he's the best. Claus 2nd tho
He'll match it, he's too versatile and too good after the catch. He just has to stay healthy, that's what set him back last year.
Having to swallow a $7 million chunk all at once is bad from a cap standpoint. The Dolphins were already working with a thin cap situation due to an unusual glut of accruals. They were going to have to try and massage those accruals into 2016 so that they don't end up with some salary cap hell year followed by a year of playing out Tony Montana's final days...which would all beget more volatility in future years. This could be bad for Mike Wallace. All indications are his fate is teetering on a knife-point, which IMO is a bad look because it makes you look indecisive and paralyzed. It feeds into news narratives about conflicts between people inside the walls, etc. If the Dolphins are calling teams asking them if they'd trade something for Wallace then they're very likely willing to part with him for no compensation (unless they're completely delusional, which is possible). If they're willing to part with the guy for little compensation in trade, but not willing to cut the guy, this suggests a serious conflict about his fate to the point where the margin is that ridiculously slim on a player set to be paid $9.9 million. And if the margin is that slim then cutting Hartline and Gibson could swing you one direction, but then being forced to swallow a $7 million tag on Clay could definitely throw things the other direction.
I think the transition tag probably represents an impasse with Clay's agent and a no-risk way of getting him back to the negotiating table. If the agent chooses instead to negotiate with other teams, the Dolphins can match their offer, or let Clay go. What the agent probably won't do, however, is let Clay play under a one-year contract at his young age.
I think that its likely a way for the team to buy more time to get a longer contract done. I doubt that Clay ends up playing for the tag in 2015, and think that his ultimate cap number for the coming season is likely a good bit lower. Nice to know that we'll very likely hang onto him though.
If you smooth his compensation including this, he's still at a very baseline level of compensation relative to his production. Without context, you could even argue that this is just a timing related payment where he gets underpaid early and highly paid later. Of course, that isn't how you maximize net returns but the argument is there. As for who he's worth, he's worth more than Lewis, Olsen, and Davis if you add significant weight to recent seasons but I'm not sure he's $7 million worth. The beauty of non-guaranteed contracts for management is that $7 million per year never actually averages to $7 million per year. EDIT: In terms of cap hit, this does cause issues. Disregarding any bad pub or feelings, we're currently creating holes on our roster. Going into this season with Clay tagged means you could make the case monetarily that we cut Hartline and Gibson and didn't replace them with anything at all due to Clay's ballooning salary. Now that their free space is gone, we'll pretty much be working with the cap savings (cap hit - dead money) of a bunch of guys we're cutting and trying to replace them with better players for less money.
The transition tag, the tag everyone forgot about. I think its a good move, but there may be a team out there willing to pay him $7million/year so this may not be over yet. I don't think Clay is worth $7M/year yet, but I like that they aren't giving out big contracts that go beyond 2015 where we could see a regime change. You don't want to be paying a player like Charles Clay big bucks in 2016 if a new coach doesn't have a system for him.
with the continuing development of sims the dolphins with clay and sims could have a good duo of tight ends. i hope clay and the dolphins can work out a longer more cap friendly contract.
bc he's been a pro for that long...? or we supposed to only cherry pick the fancy flashy stats? how about he's only played 1 full season without getting hurt... or that he is undersized and sucks at blocking..... i want him on the team sure, but for 7m? that is too much. he is a 5m max with what he has shown thus far.
No, but you are supposed to pick the stats that shows what he is most likely to do in the future. It would be surprising if he only got 450 yards next season.
I too hope they can work out a long term deal which will pay him four to five million a year. I just don't see him as a player who is worth seven million a year. He is basically a TE who is not much of a blocker and isn't someone who makes plays consistently in the red zone. I like him for what he can do, but he certainly isn't one of the top TE's in the NFL.
I think that tender was attached in a manner that had more to do wih being prohibitive to other teams being interested. No player likes one year deals, they want a longer garuantee so it is highly likely a deal will be in place for a better cap number. The team protected a player they want to keep. That's basically all it is at this stage.
Clay's a fine player. In terms of how he stacks up, after Gronk and maybe Graham (who I don't like personally, nothing in the run game), the group is kind of messy and scheme-dependent. Clay does his job well, but he's limited down the seam and doesn't give you much in the run game. He's not worth $7M right now. But you can't ditch this kid either. When you find a late-round athlete and develop him, you do whatever you can to keep the homegrown product. And when you have so few dependable pass-catchers on the roster his value rises. I get the move. The tag keeps us in the game to see where the market values him, then make the cal. If no one offers, pay him $7M for one year to take a longer look at what he's worth and who he'll be down the road. Given his career, he's a perfect example of a guy you want to rent for one more year to see where he's headed.