Dolphins To Franchise Tag WR Jarvis Landry

The top wide receiver in this year’s free agent class is off of the table. The Dolphins will place the franchise tag on Jarvis Landry, a source tells Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). The official numbers are not out yet, but it is believed that the one-year tender will be worth approximately $16.23MM. The Dolphins have since confirmed the transaction via press release.

It’s a surprising turn of events considering the lack of fruitful negotiations between the two sides. For months, all indications have been that the Dolphins would not tag Landry, preferring instead to negotiate with him up until March and potentially allow him to explore the open market.

In December, Landry’s agent Damarius Bilbo asked the Dolphins for a contract worth roughly $14MM per year with $30MM in guarantees. It’s expected that he’ll enter the coming round of negotiations with a similar ask. The Dolphins, who are looking to preserve what limited cap space they have, will push back and potentially open up talks with Kenny Britt‘s four-year, $32MM deal from last offseason as a starting point.

At one point, the Dolphins were wary of giving Landry a bloated multi-year deal because they wanted to preserve room for locking up DeVante Parker down the line. After a so-so injury-ladened season from the former first-round pick, they’re probably less concerned on that front. The Dolphins have Parker under contract through the 2018 season at a reasonable $3.46MM charge. If he breaks out in 2018, they can use the fifth-year option to control him through 2019.

Landry has topped 1,100 yards in two of his NFL seasons and nearly reached 1,000 yards in 2017. He also scored a career-high nine touchdowns and broke his own franchise record with 112 receptions. However, his yards per catch average dipped to a career low 8.8 per contest. At the end of the day, Landry presents a difficult conundrum for the Dolphins. There’s no denying that he is a lethal slot receiver, but is a slot receiver worth a potentially market shifting contract?

A $14MM/year deal would put Landry in line with Demaryius Thomas and Dez Bryant, putting him just outside of the league’s top five wide receivers in terms of average annual value. The request of $30MM in full guarantees would give him the fifth-highest total among WRs, behind only DeAndre Hopkins, Julio Jones, Thomas, and Bryant (If you’re wondering where Antonio Brown is in all of this – he has the highest AAV at $17MM, but trails the aforementioned players in those other categories).

Per league rules, the Dolphins have until July 16 to hammer out a long-term contract with Landry. Otherwise, Landry will play under the one-year deal and the two sides cannot resume negotiations until after the season.

With Landry off the board, Allen Robinson and Sammy Watkins are now positioned to be the best available wide receivers in free agency. Of course, the Jaguars and Rams could change that by also using the franchise tag on them. If Robinson and Watkins don’t reach the open market, then there will be a serious dearth of quality wide receivers available. In that scenario, Marqise Lee of the Jaguars could wind up as the belle of the ball.