Looking towards the 2013 draft, the Dolphins could be in line for a compensatory pick. A compensatory pick is an extra draft pick that the NFL awards to teams that lost more qualifying unrestricted free agents than they gained(there are only 32 total picks and one single team can get a maximum of 4). They have to be a TRUE unrestricted free agent, they can't be a player that was released or traded to the team. Or a player that missed the prior season for whatever reason. They had to have had their contract expire when the new league year began in March. The formula for the compensatory picks is not public knowledge, but people have sort of guessed how it works over the course of the past decade. It is believed that the player has to sign before August, so in this case Ikaika Alama-Francis of the 49ers likely doesn't count as a "loss" for the Dolphins. The formula takes into account the size of the contract, the amount of playing time and any post season player awards. Contract and playing time appear to be the biggest part of it. So lets take a look at who the Dolphins signed and lost and who likely is the qualifying players.
Projected Dolphins Signed qualifiers:
Legadu Naanee - (1 year, $700,000)
Artis Hicks - (1 year, $2,000,000)
Richard Marshall - (3 years, $16,000,000)
Projected Dolphins Lost qualifiers:
Chad Henne - (2 years, $6,750,000)
Will Allen (1 year, $1,000,000)
Kendall Langford - (4 years, $24,000,000)
Marvin Mitchell - (1 year, $725,000)
Now as you can see, Miami likely will have more qualifying losses than gains. Players without similar deals and production usually cancel each other out. So, since Hicks and Allen have similar deals and were placed on IR before the season started, safe to say the cancel each other out. I don't expect Naanee to have a huge impact at WR, and Mitchell is a backup in Minnesota, they probably will cancel each other out. Now, if Marshall and Langford both start the entire season as expected, you can probably cancel those two out also. Which, in the end leaves Chad Henne and his 2 year, $6,750,000 contract. Assuming he is the backup all year and that his AVERAGE salary is $3,375,000 per season, my early projection is either an additional 6th or 7th round pick. All depends on how things play out, but it does look like Miami will be getting a compensatory pick in 2013.
Projected Dolphins Signed qualifiers:
Legadu Naanee - (1 year, $700,000)
Artis Hicks - (1 year, $2,000,000)
Richard Marshall - (3 years, $16,000,000)
Projected Dolphins Lost qualifiers:
Chad Henne - (2 years, $6,750,000)
Will Allen (1 year, $1,000,000)
Kendall Langford - (4 years, $24,000,000)
Marvin Mitchell - (1 year, $725,000)
Now as you can see, Miami likely will have more qualifying losses than gains. Players without similar deals and production usually cancel each other out. So, since Hicks and Allen have similar deals and were placed on IR before the season started, safe to say the cancel each other out. I don't expect Naanee to have a huge impact at WR, and Mitchell is a backup in Minnesota, they probably will cancel each other out. Now, if Marshall and Langford both start the entire season as expected, you can probably cancel those two out also. Which, in the end leaves Chad Henne and his 2 year, $6,750,000 contract. Assuming he is the backup all year and that his AVERAGE salary is $3,375,000 per season, my early projection is either an additional 6th or 7th round pick. All depends on how things play out, but it does look like Miami will be getting a compensatory pick in 2013.
