If Denver tagged him with 2nd round tender, his salary is set for 2016, right? Then he's a free agent in 2017. So maybe they don't want him making a fortune coming off a huge year in 2016 since Hillman won't be back. So they let some other team set his price in a long term deal. Miami did that. Now Denver needs to figure out if he's worth it.
If all the above is correct, not tendering him doesn't mean they don't want at any cost, right?
I mean in a sense, but the second round tender is only $1.687M guaranteed, I do believe. So it's practically nothing to Denver, but they either wanted him to go, or have someone so their dirty work in the negotiations. Second round tender means they were sold on keeping him.