If the Miami Dolphins are planning to be successful next week at the free agency – and all indications seem to be – the team has had the necessary clarity on who their top priorities will be. At 4 pm EST this afternoon, the NFL window to designate free agents to be “franchise players” under the franchise brand was approved; a timeframe that generated a lot of action across the league, as teams sought to retain their best players with winning contracts. Some, like security designation Justin Simmons of the Broncos, were expected. Others, like the Jaguars’ decision to place OT Cam Robinson under the franchise brand, will have no impact on the Dolphins.
But a free agent who is rumored to be a potential Miami target managed to get through the franchise brand deadline unscathed – as the Green Bay Packers chose not to put the running back Aaron Jones under the brand’s control. Although, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the team will continue to work next week to try to secure a longer contract extension with Jones to keep him in Green Bay.
The Dolphins, who have seen a number of possible targets withdrawn from the market, are supposed to get a good look at Jones if he is still available to enter the free agency’s “legal tampering” window next Monday – and there are reports that Jones has a mutual interest in taking his talents to South Florida.
If the Dolphins hired Jones, that would give the team some additional flexibility in the early parts of the NFL’s 2021 draft. And that could provide Miami with a more impactful player at the start of the draft, while allowing them to bring a player into a more valuable position and keep him under a rookie contract for several seasons.
So there are talents and economic motivations for Miami to chase Jones – and the adjustment makes a lot of sense as long as the Dolphins don’t fit in with some of the suggested numbers that a new contract would cost Jones (more than $ 10 million a season). must be suitable for Miami. But now we know that the price tag for the approximately $ 11 million franchise tag was too high for Green Bay – which bodes well for the Dolphins’ potential to get Jones at a more reasonable rate next week.