The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

Looks like he won't be seeing free agency and won't quite be getting Mario Williams money.  Smart move by Ireland to lock him in now as if he has another Pro Bowl season, he definitely would've commanded Mario Williams money

Good move by Ireland.

Not sure Wake made the best deal he could have got but so what. Miami got a steal at that price!!

One less thing to worry about. Congrats to Cam for the new deal.

I will say this, Ireland has done a masterful job at keeping Soliai at a lower price than he could of gotten on the open market. And Ireland got Wake to sign a very Team-Friendly deal. Either Cam gave Miami a nice hometown discount or he has the worst agent alive.

Look at how this broke for Miami. Throw out last year for Mario Williams since he was hurt and the last 2 full years for Mario, in 2009 he had 9 sacks. In 2010 he had 8.5 sacks. In the last 2 full years for Cam he had 14 sacks in 2010 and 8.5 sacks in 2011.  And the age gap between the two players is only 3 years.  And while sacks aren't everything, it is at the end of the day why these guys get the big bucks. They get to the QB!

So Buffalo paid $30 mill more guaranteed ($50 mill guaranteed total) for a guy is only 3 years younger who has had less production and is coming off an injury.   Ireland just stole Cam Wake and got him at a great number and he gets to keep  this very good defensive unit in tact for a while longer.

THIS IS A GREAT DAY FOR THE MIAMI DOLPHINS!

I don't give Ireland credit often (never), but he did a good job with the D-line. I still would've liked to have seen Ingram with Solai, Starks, & Wake. But 3 out of 4 ain't bad. It is a good day.

It's not just 3 years younger... Williams has also been a starter for 4 years longer, so there is less of a concern (today) of Williams having to prove himself.  Wake still has a small element of flash-in-the-pan risk attached, which should be eliminated (or confirmed) by his performance in 2012.

That being said, this is a great deal for Miami.  If Wake does have another solid season, he would have priced himself far out of Miami's range.

Like I said in another thread, moves like this are what's needed for your team to be successful.  One reason why teams like Pittsburgh, Green Bay, and New England are consistenly contending for the playoffs on an annual basis is because their GM's do a phenomenal job managing the cap.  They lock star players into long term deals before their price spirals out of control due to performance, and they cut dead weight before it hurts their cap.

Something also over looked with this Wake move, by giving Wake this deal Miami doesn't have enough cap room to sign their rookies. Which means either a) Jake Long is getting a contract extension very soon to lower his cap number this year or b) Miami is going to cut a few guys (ie Trusnick, Fassano..etc) who are being paid more than their worth.

I would guess Long gets an extension which I honestly didn't think they would do with him coming off an injury plagued season but they have to do something else just to sign all of their rookies and Long seems like the most logical next move. Especially if as all the reports said Long showed up to that first OTA a few weeks back 100% healthy and with no nagging injuries.

^^^Also, if they plan on keeping Bush they should sign him to an extension before the season starts.  It would be nice to get Long signed up now for a few more years, Fins might actual receive some positive press from the "media".

You draft Daniel Thomas in Rd 2. Lamar Miller in Rd 4. And they are high on the undrafted kid from ND Jonas Gray who is coming off an ACL injury but if he was healthy he was getting drafted as he is a gifted RB. Not sure they will pay Bush now especially with Bush having injury history, they might make Reggie prove he can do it 2 years in a row.

I'm a huge Cam Wake fan, and I am glad he got his much deserved pay day.  Dude has gotten double teamed for 2 years now and doesn't take a play off.  I really love what he said about the deal:

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/05/06/cameron-wake-says-new-contracts-means-hes-taking-things-to-another-level/


“I want to stay humble with it,” Wake said.  “I have never been one of those guys.  I am not looking at a helicopter or diamonds or big tiger or nothing like that. . . .  I am kind of one of those guys that [gets] the things that I need and most of the things I want [are] well below my needs.  Like they said, ‘Wine money with beer tastes.’  I keep it pretty simple and hopefully [save money] for a rainy day in the future and hopefully for generations to come.”


Wine money with Beer tastes.  I love that.  Cheers Cam!!

I saw that comment this morning and its one of the best lines I have heard an athlete use ever! I love that line

Refreshing to see players with attitudes like that, especially in these times.  Even better that he plays for Miami.

I already really liked Wake, and this sort of attitude just makes me appreciate the guy even more.

Reports are that Miller may be lined up at WR, not RB when not on special teams. -EK

^^^ I think you need to use the word "some" in that sentence. I would expect to see Miller and Bush both go out wide some, but both are really running backs.

If what I read had said "some," I would have used it. There is talk that he will actually be asked to change positions and be a receiver. It's not unheard of, and Miami still has 8 RBs on their roster and only 10 WRs, so it's not that big a stretch. If he can be a better receiving threat than Will Yeatman- currently listed as fourth on their depth chart- it makes sense. -EK

What I read basically said some in it. I feel that is the more likely scenario especially since this was Philbin's quote, "There's a chance down the road, as Lamar gets acclimated, that he might be able to spread himself a ways as a receiver to a certain degree. I'm not saying make a full position change, but I think there's some flexibility with what you can do with the guy."

I would just like to know how we can afford this extension.  I am sure they have it sorted out but the media makes it sound like we are flat out of money and don't even have enough to sign our draft picks.

Does this extension mean an inevitible high dollar player cut?

^^Actually what I heard was the best way to deal with this would be to resign Long with a large signing bonus which would allow you to spread out the money over the life of the contract and actually lower his cap number.

This was a gem of a move by Ireland. To wrap up a deal with an elite pass rusher at this price, was an absolute steal.


BTW, I think Reggie Bush will line up as a WR more than Miller will, but thats just my opinion.

That or Jake Long (or Dansby possibly) gets a new deal in the coming days/weeks to lower the cap number they have. It has to be one or the other. Someone (or a couple guys) is getting cut or Long most likely gets a new deal to cut his cap number this year.  Problem is they don't have to extend Long now, because if they franchise tag him after this year his cap number goes down anyway since the franchise tag number for a LT is less than what he is making in 2012 and they don't have to make a long-term decision on Long till then.

Will be interesting to see how Ireland play's this.

Guaranteed money is better than a signing bonus.  You have to cut a guy because he's not performing, the guaranteed money will hit your cap proratedly over the length of the contract.  The signing bonus would hit your cap all at once the year you cut the guy.

I'm not sure anyone posted the actual breakdown of Wake's contract, which seems like a steal for Miami given what other pass-rushers have gotten lately:

He has what is essentially a $3 million roster bonus due on the fifth day of the 2015 league year, at which point the Dolphins will either pick up the option, decline to pick up the option and make Wake a free agent, or ask Wake to re-negotiate his contract. It will be similar to the decision the Colts had to make with Peyton Manning this offseason and his $28 million bonus, though on a smaller scale.
 
The full details of Wake’s contract:
 
* The contract is really a five-year deal that runs from 2012-16.
 
* Wake received a $7 million signing bonus that is pro-rated over five years for salary cap purposes.
 
* His salary cap numbers for the next five seasons are: $2.19 million, $5.015 million, $7.285 million, $9.7 million, $9.8 million.
 
* Wake’s salary ($615,000) and bonuses ($50,000) stay the same for 2012.
 
* His base salaries of $3.565 million in 2013 and $5.82 million in 2014 are fully guaranteed.
 
* Wake’s contract is heavily backloaded — almost $16.5 of the $26.5 million in base salaries come in the final two years.
 
* If the Dolphins pay Wake the $3 million option in 2015 and he makes the team in September, he will get an additional $5.2 million in salary that year. His salary for 2016 would then be $8.275 million

-EK

That is a bargain deal for the Dolphins.

I don't get it.  He had a very good year a couple of years ago and a solid year last year.  The deal seemed plenty fair to me, not a steal.

When you consider what Mario Williams got paid, it's a steal. Wake has more tackles and the same number of sacks in the past TWO years than Williams has had in the past THREE. -EK

Not in a mean spirited way, but who cares what Mario Williams got paid?  The only thing that is relevent about the Mario Williams deal is that we can expect to see cap trouble out of the Bills if moves like that continue to be made.

So we didn't overpay for Wake like the Bills overpaid for Williams.  I can't call that a "deal" or a "steal".

Question - does anyone know who our "cap" guy is?  Most teams have a cap guru, someone who "flies under the radar" and makes this stuff work.  Anyone know who that is for Miami?

Well, it WAS important until Wake signed.  Because Mario's contract was one which could have been used as a market setter.   

Just my opinion, but I don't think player contracts that are obvious abberations are market setters.  That doesn't mean that big contracts aren't market setters, but I don't believe that when a guy gets overpaid by this much that it makes a major difference.

In fact, I believe we will see the opposite begin to occur.  Contracts like this create big bust scenerios where the player is unlikely to live up to the contract.  Haynesworth was the peak example of this and seeing the impact of his contract on that team will make teams think twice about overpaying players.

Exceptions like Buffalo will always exist.  They were despirate for something, anything.  But look at all the quality free agents sitting on the market.  They are there because they think they are worth more than they are worth.  They don't realize that the mentality is shifting.  Younger isn't really all that much better, it is cheaper and when you have a cap to worry about, cheaper is a necessity.

I believe its Dawn Aponte but don't hold me too that. She might have a higher position now and someone else is the cap person