Dolphins place second-round tender on restricted free agent cornerback Nik Needham
The Dolphins placed a second-round tender on restricted free agent cornerback Nik Needham, the team announced Friday, likely keeping the versatile nickelback in Miami for another season.
“Can’t wait to run it back! Fins up!” Needham wrote in a tweet after the announcement.
The tender will pay Needham, 25, about $3.9 million in 2022 – a sizable increase from his $850,000 salary in 2021. The Dolphins will have the opportunity to match any offer from another team by the April 22 deadline. The inquiring team would have to give the Dolphins a second-round pick as compensation.
In his third year with the Dolphins and second straight as the team’s top slot corner, Needham had his best season to date.
Needham recorded a career-high 59 combined tackles, along with five pass deflections, two interceptions and a defensive touchdown. According to Pro Football Focus, Needham’s 201 coverage snaps without allowing a touchdown was the second most among cornerbacks.
Signed as an undrafted free agent out of UTEP in 2019, Needham has become one of general manager Chris Grier’s best low-profile finds. Needham didn’t make the team’s initial 53-man roster as a rookie but was soon promoted to the active roster and started 11 of 12 games. When the team signed cornerback Byron Jones in 2020, Needham moved to the slot and started six games.
Needham has been a versatile member of a defense that prides itself on that trait – he played significant time at safety when Jevon Holland missed a game to coronavirus protocols.
“Nik is one of those guys where when I came in, I didn’t know too much about him but watching him perform and the way he approaches practice – there was at one point I told him, ‘The way you approach the game, you inspire me,” Jones said in December 2021. “He is a guy who was undrafted, didn’t have much of a shot but is fighting, scratching and clawing to be here. He’s been put in a lot of positions and he’s stepped up every single time.
“The fact that he was playing nickel throughout the entire year and has to hop back at safety and make all the calls is something that, as a team, doesn’t go unnoticed. I know fans probably overlook it but that’s an incredible adjustment to make in a week. He was a guy that all of us trusted and the coaches trusted and he did the job very well. I’m happy to see a guy like that be able to perform at that level and be versatile.”
Needham’s tender continues the Dolphins’ recent history of investing in their secondary. The team signed Xavien Howard in 2019 to a $76.5 million contract extension, which was at the time the largest deal ever for a cornerback. After restructuring Howard’s contract last summer, Grier said the team would revisit Howard’s deal this offseason. Another restructure could potentially reset the market or come close to it.
A year after signing Howard, the team gave Jones a then-record-setting $82.5 million contract. While there have been rumors about the Dolphins potentially trading Jones this offseason, his $14.4 million salary in 2022 is guaranteed after he underwent surgery in the area of his ankle and Achilles. The surgery is not expected to jeopardize his availability for the start of training camp in late July but likely guarantees his return to Miami.
With Needham receiving a tender, the Dolphins now have five restricted free agents they must make a decision on before the start of the new league year at 4 p.m. March 16: safety Sheldrick Redwine, running back Patrick Laird, cornerback Jamal Perry, wide receiver Preston Williams and linebacker Sam Eguavoen. If a restricted free agent does not receive a tender before the start of the new league year, he will become an unrestricted free agent and free to sign with any team. None of the remaining restricted free agents are expected to receive a tender.
This story was originally published March 11, 2022 at 12:48 PM.
