The Dolphins continue to search for a third receiver behind Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, but the team isn’t willing to break the bank for the position. A league source that has talked with the Dolphins believes the organization is only willing to spend “a few million” on another wideout, per Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.
[RELATED: Dolphins Submit Offer To OBJ]
The team reportedly made an offer to Odell Beckham Jr., and Jackson says the veteran “remains Miami’s top choice” for the role. Jackson also passes along that the two sides have continued to speak about a potential deal, but the writer believes OBJ isn’t looking for a significant discount on the $15MM he earned from the Ravens in 2023. In that case, the Dolphins’ offer of a “few million” might not be enough.
The organization has also been mentioned as a suitor for free agent Tyler Boyd. However, the long-time Bengals wideout isn’t looking to take a major pay cut on the $10.3MM he earned last season, per Jackson. Hill has pushed for the Dolphins to pursue Michael Thomas, but Jackson says the front office has been “more mindful” of pursuing players with significant injury histories.
The Dolphins will likely continue to be patient until after the draft, and Jackson believes the organization would be comfortable filling that WR3 hole with a rookie. In that scenario, the Dolphins would probably take themselves out of the running for the top remaining free agent WRs.
Cedrick Wilson Jr. served as the team’s third wideout in 2022 and 2023, but he left for the Saints this offseason. Besides Hill, Waddle, and slot receiver Braxton Berrios, the rest of the current WR depth chart lacks experience. That grouping includes River Cracraft, Braylon Sanders, Erik Ezukanma, and Anthony Schwartz.
Look at all the best teams – they have multiple top receiving threats. (Except maybe KC)
The Dolphins get it. Tua isn’t the same caliber as the other QBs – but he is certainly good enough to play at a high level with excellent supporting cast.
The Dolphins already have one of the best duos and are trying to get more.
It the Jets get Odunze, the Bills can be looking at the third best receiver groups in the AFC east. ( they already are – pending a big trade and excellent draft)
Sadly ahead of only NE – who may be the league’s worst.
Forgetful of the fact Miami was exposed as soft when they played teams with winning records.
They just don’t perform well in the cold. End of story.
Buffalo hung nearly half a hundred on Miami in 70-degree weather in western New York. In October.
Ah, barring multiple trades up, the Jets aren’t going to sniff Odunze as a draft option……besides, they’re linked to multiple other needs other than WR……
Honestly I don’t think BUF has anything more then NE when it comes to WR’s atm.
If we put the Bills best 4 WR’s up next to NE’s I don’t know if I would be able to say which group is worst.
Fortunately BUF gets to focus on drafting a WR early in the draft while NE has to figure out much more. Still curious to see if BUF trades up slightly to grab WR Brian Thomas Jr. or if they just wait for Best Available WR at 28. (Or maybe they should do both lol)
To be fair, in the final ten games of last season and the playoffs, the Bills relied very little on Diggs (who averaged 41 yards a game and his catch percentage dropped like a rock) or Davis. With a solid rookie or two and Curtis Samuel (who has done well despite playing with subpar QBs), they’ll be fine.
Over the final 10 games Diggs averaged 8+ targets a game. So to say they relied very little on him isnt fully truthful. He had 9 targets and 8 targets in the playoff games. Catch % doesn’t tell the whole story either. What was the catchable rate? If he’s given difficult catches (catch rate 60% success rate or less) to make and doesn’t make them idk how that’s solely a Diggs issue. Dropping catchable balls or high success rate passes that’s an issue. Not so much if you’re throwing in traffic or double coverage saying why didn’t he catch it?
Plus even when he’s not being targeted defenses still had to make sure he wasn’t open. Which opens up things for other guys like Knox Kincaid Davis etc.
Is Shakir Samuel Knox or Kincaid going to open things up way Diggs did? Time will tell but Samuel didn’t exactly open things up for guys in Carolina and Washington. Sure QB play plays a part but defenses weren’t afraid of Samuel way they are of Diggs.
Diggs may be a head case and the next Antonio brown but I don’t think everything in buffalo was 100% his fault. The way bills fans seem to be dragging him for being frustrated without acknowledging there’s probably some truth behind the frustrations isn’t a very objective look tbh.
I get the feeling you didn’t watch many of those 10 games.
Jets most likely aren’t taking Odunze. They need oline more than receiver. They’re taking a chance on Mike Williams. They could go WR in 2nd like Legette but wouldn’t be surprised if they double up on tackles for Rodgers.
Agree about needing O-line help, and I personally love Mike Williams (especially when he his healthy). But Jets don’t have a 2nd Round pick.
That’s right they sent it to GB forgot.
Wow….life must be good for OBJ…made $15 million for 35 catches and won’t accept any discount from the Dolphins for a spot on the 24 team……
Yeah, Im not a fan of ODB either, but I appreciate the philosophy.
Or, he just hasn’t come to grips with reality and realize he’ll be 32 during the season; still recovering from a fairly recent major injury; and outside of starting hot for his first three seasons, honestly hasn’t done all that much. Out of a possible 146 career games (not counting the injury recovery year of ’22), he played in only 75% of his potential games. If I’m looking to spend 15 mm on a 3rd WR, I think I could find a younger and much more proven-to-be available option than OBJ.
Maybe still living off the aura of ‘The Catch’.
The Ravens contract may be his undoing if that’s his expectation moving forward. If I were a GM, I wouldn’t guarantee him more than $2 million with a lot of escalating incentives. Earn it on the field…
Yeah, although I will point out that it’s also quite…amusing, I suppose, that the Dolphins don’t want to sign Michael Thomas due to “injury” reasons, but are perfectly comfortable looking into Beckham. Interesting, I think.
I know he’s older than these guys, but looking ay how much guaranteed money players like Mooney and Samuel got this offseason, Beckham has more than $2 million coming this way. Heck, Bourne got more than double that coming off a torn ACL.
While I don’t disagree with you about Beckham, I think that Bourne’s situation is a bit different. Bourne specifically has put more yards and touchdowns than Beckham has in the last three years. Bourne was also certainly the best receiver that New England had, and re-signed with the Patriots. If he hadn’t he likely wouldn’t have gotten a better deal in my mind. Even though NE’s offense was putrid, I think that’s something about being the receiver that helps a player’s case. Bourne isn’t a worldbeater, but I don’t think that he was seen as the cause for the struggles that led to NE’s offensive stagnation.
I think that Beckham has more questions, in addition to also having come off of significant injury recently. He has looked slower since, even considering the non-aerial nature of Baltimore’s offense. He also has that personality to consider, which rightfully or wrongfully is another element of signing him. In my opinion, this why Thomas isn’t being considered by Miami.
Still, past contracts influence current negotiations, and Beckham still carries some name recognition. I agree that he’ll probably see more than $2 million, but I don’t expect it to be much more. He may have to wait until after the draft, but I don’t know if that will necessarily help his payout ceiling.
Guess I’m missing the logic of guys like Beckham and Boyd for not signing when the coming draft promises to be very deep.
The draft falls in such a way that they don’t get their guy or they find out how raw some of these picks are in OTAs and that they aren’t going to help much this year. More often than not, 2nd round WR picks don’t have great rookie seasons. Someone will get caught short.
I’m confident that if the Dolphins signed Antonio Brown and featured him in a Pet Detective movie they would have a decent chance of recouping their investment of a few million.