Ja’Wuan James is staying put. As the right tackle teased on his Instagram account, he’ll remain with the Dolphins. There won’t be any renegotiation of his deal, as he’ll remain under contract for $9.3MM in 2018, per Armando Salguero of The Miami Herald (on Twitter).
The Dolphins were shopping their longtime right tackle this week, presumably to see if a market developed prior to James’ fifth-year option becoming fully guaranteed on Wednesday. The sides were discussing a new deal on Monday, but James had enough leverage to hold his ground.
James’ new deal gives him an opportunity to stay in sunny Miami and build on what was arguably the best season of his career to date, even though it was shortened by injury.
For his eight games, James graded as the league’s 17th-ranked offensive tackle last season, per Pro Football Focus. However, the former first-round pick has seen injuries cut two of his seasons short. He has yet to prove he can be a consistent, healthy option in Miami, likely leading to the trade efforts.
I’m not sure if the Dolphins know what they want to do. Thought about cutting him for his cap, and decide to keep him on. Don’t want to meet Jarvis Landry’s asking price, but then give the money that would’ve gone to Landry to two other receivers, which is probably one of the positions they didn’t need to address.