To me it is clear that Paul Soliai and Cameron Wake are both playing very well this year. Let's look at how the Front Office's approach to these agents is flawed, imo....
1) We all know how screwed a 3-4 defense is without a good Nose Tackle and how hard they are to find, so it boggles my mind that the Front office has not extended Paul Soliai. The longer we wait, the more likely Solia and his agent will be tempted to test free agency. Also, if we had signed Soliai weeks ago, we could have gotten a discount for Soliai not having proven his worth for a "whole season" as a starter. Now? The price on Soliai will be more than two months ago. And if we continue to wait the price will be even higher as other teams show interest.
2) Cam Wake, quite simply, is dominating the NFL and, in Tony Sparano's own words today, will only get better. So why are we waiting to extend this guy? You sign him a month ago, he certainly costs less than after leading the league in sacks AND making a Pro-Bowl. Just stupid to me. This guys asking price will just keep climbing the longer we dealy this. It's obvious to anyone who watches football that this guy is DEFINITELY good (even Sparano knows it, obviously) so why delay?
The reason this upsets me is, we have LOTS of areas that need improvement but only a limited amount of DOLLARS to do it (thanks salary cap). So if we could have paid Soliai $3-4 mill a year and Wake $3-5 million a year it would have left a lot more money for other players we NEED to pursue in free agency (Logan Mankins anyone????) But instead we are waiting, and I suppose we could end up paying Soliai something like $5-6 million a year and Wake $7-9 million a year. Great there's the extra money that could have helped bring in a Free Agent we need, like a Mankins.
So the DOWN side of waiting is very clear to me, since it's obvious we should keep Soliai and Wake.
What I do not see is any UP side to waiting. Here are some typical reasons a team might delay signing a guy:
1) Not sure he's actually good or will still be good in future. (I don;t buy this with Wake or Soliai)
2) Not sure about injuries with the player. (No significant injury history for either, and neither is old.)
3) Believe the player/agent are overpriced and want to give them a chance to hit free agency to see that no one wants them. (This worked with Channing Crowder because he IS mediocre. Clearly Wake is not medicore. And Soliai is a great young Nose Tackle. Those are damned near impossible to find and this league is desperate for the as more teams go to the 3-4 each year. For example, KC could REALLY use a Nose Tackle. If we wait for Wake and Soliai to get closert to the free agency period, they will simply raise their asking price as I am certain they will both garner lots of interest)
4) Don't spend until we know what's up with the CBA (this is possible, but it's going to cost us a lot of extra money on these guys' salaries).
5) The owner may fire the GM/coach and does not want to commit to their players until the new GM gets to decide if he wants them long-term.
To me, only reason #5 makes sense. If we may fire Ireland then you have to get the new GM in and let him decide whom to keep. But htis is where ownership can hurt a franchise. If the owner takes too long to decide, and we keep delaying signings as a result, we will have to play these guys a damned fortune and WON'T be able to get good players at other positions because of that. Or we may have to NOT resign some of our other good guys if we overpay Wake and Soliai because of delaying.
In short... Dolphins, you need to sign these guys!!! They will only cost more the longer we wait! Mr Ross, if it's you we are waiting on, PLEASE decide on Jeff Ireland ASAP! This franchise needs to move forwards!
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What leads you to believe we didn't make an offer to either? I don't really see much motivation for either to sign a contract during the season.
I would assume Wake will be looking to be among the top-3 highest paid OLBs in the league. Thats not an easy deal to make during the season.gafinfan and NJFINSFAN1 like this. -
If you know the price will be rising the longer you wait, you make an offer that gets the deal done. Or take a huge risk that you will pay even MORe later, or just simply lose the player. How stupid would our organization look if we discovered Wake and he holds out til he gets traded elsewhere next year?Killerphins likes this.
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So if Wake said "I want to be the highest paid LBer in the NFL", you would pay him that much?
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Franchising Solia will be massively expensive. Granted Soliai himself is massive, so that kinda works, but it won;t help us have extra money to fill other holes. Maybe we just play Soliia on offense and defense.
Hell, I'd LOVE to see big paul as a goalline fullback, a la Fridge. -
A smart agent would have them wait so they can get bigger money, that's why they pay agents.GMJohnson and Stringer Bell like this.
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Add in, they are still under the 30% rule, meaning even if they wished to sign Soliai to a large contract they are limited to 30% more than his original deal, could be 20%, they did make Solia an offer but it was rejected.gafinfan likes this.
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So very true thus there is/was no reason to sign. Both the club and the player are hogtied under the present rules, a offer was put on the table hopfully the player knows the team wants him by that show of faith. There is nothing left to do save wait until a new CBA is in force and then all will move forward.
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The problem with the opening post is that you are argueing against your own theory and dont even know it. Of course you would like to sign a guy early that you know that your going to want around your team for the next 4 or 5 years. Of course you want to get them at the best price you can have them at. Whats in it for the player though to be signed at that price. While we want to sign them, they want to wait and force us to pay more money. Thats how the business works. No way you sign for 3 mil a year when you think you might get 5 or 6 if you wait it out, or test free agency.