DOLPHINS POWELL
the increase in the cap would impact Tagovailoa’s contract demands.
While many of the raw reported numbers on a new deal — total value, average annual value, guarantees — are the focus of contracts, another important aspect to teams and agents is the percentage of the deal as it relates to the cap.
For example, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow was the most recent player to reset the quarterback market. Last September, he signed a five-year, $275 million deal that averages to $55 million per year. When comparing it to the percentage of the cap, Burrow’s deal takes up about 24.5 percent of the 2023 cap.
When extrapolated to the current salary cap, a top-of-the-market quarterback deal comes in at around $62.4 million per year. It’s a steep price to pay one player, but quarterback ed all 15 games last season and had some of the best pass coverage metrics in the nation, per Pro Football Focus. Powell, 6-1 and 210 pounds, allowed just 8.8 yards per catch, tied for fifth among all FBS safeties who were targeted at least 50 times. He allowed just two touchdowns and had interceptions against Michigan State, Arizona State and Oregon in the Pac-12 championship game. His 89-yard interception return for a
deals have been rising at a rate greater than the cap increase for several years. As the cap continues to rise in the coming years, the contracts will be significant but won’t have as much of an impact on cap flexibility touchdown came against ASU.
He had six pass breakups, 38 tackles and eight tackles for loss last season.
Powell said he chose Miami because it was a “great program.”
‘KNOWN WINNER’
“Coach [Mario] Cristobal is a known winner,” Powell said. “Everywhere he’s been, he’s won games. He was at Oregon and he won there. He’s trying to build that culture here and that’s a culture I want to be a part of and take this thing all the way to the national championship.”
The next step for Powell?
as they initially appeared.
The deals signed last year by Burrow, Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert, Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson and Philadelphia Eagles quarterback
“Just being elite in everything,” he said. “Playing that nickel position, you can’t just be elite at one thing. You’ve got to be elite at blitzing, you’ve got to be elite getting off blocks, you’ve got to be an elite tackler, you’ve got to be an elite cover.
“You can’t do just one thing really good. You’ve got to do everything really good. That’s what separates the top nickels in the country. They make extraordinary things look ordinary.”
DEFENDING WARD
Powell was asked about new UM quarterback Cam
Jalen Hurts all provide a framework in terms of total value and contract structures. But the quarterback contracts that could be signed in the coming months may also serve as a guide — or a roadblock – in negotiations.
Ward, against whom he competed multiple times when Ward played at Washington State.
“He’s a winner — straight winner,” Powell said. “He’ll do anything he can [for] us — on his feet, with his arm... He’s a team player, a leader, great guy in the locker room. We’re in that practice, man, it feels like the Super Bowl going against him every rep.”
Defensive coordinator Lance Guidry said Friday that Powell is already a leader among a thin, inexperienced defensive backs corps.
“Meesh is probably playing the strongest out of the guys that came in,”
Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence is eligible for an extension. Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott could get a new deal to lower his $59.4 million cap hit. And the
Guidry said. “He’s really, really smart. Of course he’s played a lot of ballgames. He’s played in some really big ballgames — the biggest ballgame in college football. There’s not a lot he hasn’t seen. He’s going to be a really good, really impact player for us.”
Had he chosen an Ivy League school, Powell said he would have gone to Harvard.
“My dad went to Harvard,” Powell said of his father, Darrell, the former chief operating officer of United Way of King County. In January, his father was named the interim chief executive officer of the King County
Green Bay Packers’ Jordan Love will be able to sign an extension in May.
Spotrac projects Tagovailoa will sign a four-year extension worth $220 million, which would tie Burrow’s deal with an average annual value of $55 million. In Spotrac’s projection for Tagovailoa’s deal, $165 million would be guaranteed, which would rank in the top 10 for quarterback contracts.
The amount of guarantees — and the structure of the payout — will be crucial to see just how long the Dolphins are contractually tied to Tagovailoa. Regardless, Tagovailoa is headed for a significant payday that will likely make him the highest-paid player in franchise history.
“I think we’re hopeful,” Grier said of the negotiations. “These are deals that very rarely come together quickly. There are a lot of pieces and moving parts. We’ve had positive discussions so far, and we’ll keep working here throughout the offseason.”
Regional Homelessness Authority.
His mother, Yvonne Terrell-Powell, PhD, is director of equity, inclusion and belonging at Edmonds College outside Seattle.
Though he comes from the cold, rainy Pacific Northwest, Powell said he already loves Miami.
“It’s treating me lovely,” he said. “It’s great. The weather is always hot, even when it’s raining. I heard the summer is pretty dangerous, but I’m looking forward to it.”