Is Ja’Wuan James worth $50M and a third-round pick? How comp picks will play a factor
Another year has passed, yet the story is the same for the Dolphins and the compensatory pick derby.
The NFL announced this year’s comp picks — which are awarded based on how many free agents each team signs and lets walk the previous offseason — and, as expected the Dolphins received none.
That’s two years in a row now the league was given Dolphins zero picks beyond the one in each round that every team receives.
And it makes their rebuild job that much harder, particularly when you consider that both the Rams and Patriots — the two teams in this year’s Super Bowl — will get two additional third-round selections.
The league uses a complicated, semi-secret formula to allocate the comp picks, but there are ways in which teams like the Patriots can make big-time additions without hurting their chances. Namely, players acquired via trade and those signed after their previous team cut them do not count against the tally.
Here’s another, simpler way to look at it:
Are any of the Dolphins’ dozen or so pending unrestricted free agents worth a big-money contract and a mid-round draft pick, if the Dolphins were going to trade for them?
Enough generalities. Let’s get more specific:
Is right tackle Ja’Wuan James worth a multi-year contract paying him between $9 million and $10 million annually and a third-round pick? Because that’s essentially what it would cost the Dolphins to keep him. By allowing James, the Dolphins’ former first-round pick, to walk, they would likely get a third or fourth in return next year. And they could package that pick with other assets to go get their quarterback.
James was a decent, but not spectacular right tackle in 2018. Some inside the organization believe the Dolphins’ offense operated better when Sam Young was in the lineup instead of James.
A lot of this depends on what James thinks he’s worth.
If his asking price is too high, the Dolphins might decide to save the money they would otherwise use on him for what is expected to be a busy 2020 offseason and finally get back into the comp pick business.
James is not the only high-profile Dolphins UFA poised to sign elsewhere. A contending team could take a shot on Cameron Wake, who was still very productive at age 36. William Hayes, Frank Gore and even Brock Osweiler could land elsewhere, which would add to the Dolphins’ equation.
This approach, however, takes discipline. The Dolphins must avoid signing true UFAs, at least early in the free-agency period, to protect those 2020 picks.
That shouldn’t be a problem for Miami, however. Chris Grier is not expected to be a big spender in free agency this year, but rather build through the draft.
This story was originally published February 22, 2019 at 3:34 PM.
