Dolphins return on investment at wide receiver further evidence for change
The Miami Dolphins’ objective this offseason is clear: get better weapons for quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Miami entered the 2020 season with former 1st-round pick DeVante Parker coming off of a career season and tight end Mike Gesicki suddenly looking like the talent the Dolphins envisioned in 2018 when they made him a 2nd-round choice. But beyond that? Yikes.
Even Parker, who entered this season with a new contract in tow, failed to live up to the standards he’d set the previous season. But his production was still respectable by the end of the year — 63 receptions for 793 yards and 4 scores. But the rest of the wide receiver room was ravaged by injuries and opt outs — leaving Jakeem Grant as the next most productive wide receiver on the team with a measly 373 receiving yards and 1 touchdown. No other Dolphins wide receiver finished the year with 300+ receiving yards.
The need for improvement is obvious — but when you consider what the Dolphins have on the roster and what they’re committed to spending for it, the need for change only becomes more obvious.
The Dolphins are committed to over $25M in cap commitments to the wide receiver position in 2021 ($25,500,001 to be exact). That figure is the 11th highest allocation of salary cap for the wide receiver position in the NFL. And what do the Dolphins have to show for it? 10 combined touchdowns (one less than their trio of tight ends) and one 400+ yard receiver in 2020. Granted. Injuries and opt outs did account for some of the shortcomings. But Miami’s wide receiver room is, at this point, one of the worst in football. The cap allocations for 2021 among Miami’s notable receivers are as follows:
DeVante Parker – $11.05M
Albert Wilson – $5.18M
Jakeem Grant – $4.75M
Allen Hurns – $2.88M
Preston Williams – $853k
This, of course, doesn’t include marginal cap hits for rookies like Malcolm Perry and Lynn Bowden Jr. Aside of yet another reminder of why building through the draft holds so much value, the Dolphins are at a painful juncture and must be honest with themselves about the merits and outlook of this group and compare it with what they’re getting back for their money. And, if 2020 production (or 2019 production in the case of Wilson & Hurns) are any indication, the end result may be a clean sweep of the team’s top cap commitments aside of Parker at receiver.
The best solution may not be be dropping $20M per season onto star receiver Allen Robinson, but then again just about any move would put the Dolphins’ receiver in a better situation than they currently find themselves.
