The REASON that we were able to sign a bunch of vets for very minimal salaries is because the NFL has become a place where 5-6 players on your team will account for most of your available cap, while everyone else gets something near the minimum.
So... with Waddle, the question becomes... do we want him to be one of our 5 or 6?
We declined Wilkins... declined Hunt... now Holland, Tua, Waddle, and Phillips are soon to be decided.
I suspect that keeping all 4 is unlikely. Don't you?
I'm getting the feeling HOLLAND is a goner soon. He's been good but...is he worth that next contract?
I'm not sure.
Not seeing TUA, WADDLE or PHILLIPS going anywhere else. Just my guess.
Agreed, if we sign a Safety with two bad knees to money that dictates the course of the franchise that just feels stupid. Sign him at a team-friendly rate or replace him. He's a safety for God's sake.
We have to manage the impact of (1) Tyreek at WR and (2) Chubb at Edge over the next couple of years along with the new contracts to our mid-level players (Jackson, Ramsey, etc.).
As soon as Tyreek is gone, Waddle (or someone else) is getting paid at WR. So we're locked in with big money at WR either way.
At Edge you'd like to re-sign Phillips for fear or creating another huge hole. It's probably easiest to just re-sign him so that's #3.
That leaves QB, CB and LT. I think we'll target one of those positions with one of our high picks this year (R1 or R2). The other will probably require money next year (or at least a R1 pick).
So by '25 you're going to be paying:
1) WR (Tyreek in his final year)
2) WR (Waddle on 5th-yr extension, franchise tag or in year-1 of a new deal)
3) Edge (Chubb with a $29 cap hit in both '25 and '26)
4) Edge (Phillips on 5th-yr extension, franchise tag or in year-1 of a new deal)
5) QB (Tua hopefully remaining "cheap" until year-3 in '26)
6) LT or CB*
It's manageable but it's sort of locked in right now. We don't have a lot of flexibility here.
Miami could fill both LT and CB with their next two R1 picks in '24 and '25 but that's an ideal scenario. It's more likely, one position is filled for good in the draft and the other needs attention in FA which could get expensive quickly once Armstead & Lamm are gone and Fuller is nearing the end. LTs and CBs are expensive as we know.