Contracts given to Johnson and Williams may haunt Dolphins

By Joe Mayes  |   Wednesday, April 16, 2008  |  Comments( 0 )

Miami Dolphins
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Earlier this week, there were reports out of Miami that the Dolphins offered Michigan offensive tackle Jake Long a contract $10-$15 million below those of the top two picks in the 2007 NFL draft, JaMarcus Russell and Calvin Johnson. Russell inked a six-year deal with Oakland last fall for a max of $68 million (average $11.3 million per year), and Johnson signed with Detroit for six years and $64.5 million max ($10.75 million per season).

If the Dolphins have in fact offered Long this deal, it would be in line with reports last week by an NFL personnel insider that said Bill Parcells was expected to offer the potential No. 1 picks a deal worth somewhere between 3-10 percent more than last year’s No. 3, Browns’ tackle Joe Thomas.

Thomas signed a five-year, $42.5 million deal last year, an average of $8.5 million per season. A 10 percent increase from this would be $9.35 million annually. Assuming a six-year deal is being offered, this would mean a max of $56.1 million, just under $12 million less than Russell and $8.4 million less than Johnson.

While the Dolphins can essentially dismiss the Russell contract because of the widely accepted (among NFL teams) idea that quarterback contracts are outliers and don’t represent a basis of comparison in establishing values for other positions, two other contracts may make it difficult for Miami to sell this to the players involved -- and more importantly, to their agents.

The first contract is Johnson’s. Johnson was the second pick in the 2007 draft, and though he may have been generally considered to be the best athlete and pro prospect in last year’s draft, he’s not a quarterback. Therefore, the agents will argue, his 2007 contract is fair game for establishing the 2008 contract baseline. The agents will likely want to use Johnson’s $10.75 million-per-year deal as the starting point for this year’s No. 1.

The second problematic contract belongs to the 2006 number one pick, defensive end Mario Williams. Williams signed with Houston for $54 million over six years, an average of $9 million per year. If the Dolphins are offering a contract along the lines of $56 million, it would be difficult for them to contend that this year’s No. 1 is worth just 4 percent more than the No. 1 from two years ago, especially considering the NFL salary cap rose 23.5 percent between 2006 and 2008. (The 2006 salary cap was $94.5 million; this year it is $116.7 million.)

The Dolphins are in negotiations with Jake Long and a deadline has been set, though it is still unclear when that deadline is. Word is that if Long and his agent, Tom Condon, do not agree to what the Dolphins are offering, the team will simply move on to its next choice, reported to be either Ohio State’s Vernon Gholston or Chris Long from Virginia.

Regardless of whether it’s one of the Longs or Gholston (or one of the other top prospects), it seems implausible that Parcells will be able to convince Condon, Ben Dogra (Gholston's agent), or Chris Long’s representative, Marvin Demoff, that the top pick in the NFL draft is worth just 4 percent more in 2008 than it was two years ago and that this year’s first pick is worth 13 percent less than last year’s No. 2.

But if Parcells can pull this one off, turning things around on the field will seem like child’s play.
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About Joe Mayes

Joe Mayes is an award-winning writer with credits ranging from national sports columns to local newspapers and commercial and technical writing. Joe is the host of "The Morning Wrap," a morning drive-time sports talk radio show on WTKE-FM in Northwest ...
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