Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Team exploring trades for James
Source says OT could be moved before Wednesday
The Miami Dolphins are attempting to trade the last player that remains from the franchise’s 2014 draft class.
Ja’Wuan James, the team’s 2014 firstround pick, is being shopped to teams seeking offensive line help, and could be moved before the start of free agency on Wednesday, according to a league source.
Teams that need offensive linemen are in a holding pattern, waiting for today’s legal tampering period to start at 4 p.m. That is when NFL teams are allowed to make offers to unrestricted free agents.
It is quite possible that one of those teams might prefer to trade for James, who is on the fifth-year option of his contract, which guarantees the four-year starter $9.34 million for the 2018 season. James’ contract becomes fully guaranteed Wednesday at 4 p.m.
The Dolphins plan to re-sign Sam Young, a former St. Thomas Aquinas standout who filled in admirably for an injured James the final six games of 2017, helping Miami’s shaky offensive line stabilize in the secondhalf of last year’s 6-10 season.
“[Jesse Davis] and Sam really developed something there toward the end. We’ll just see how everything kind of plays out. We have a lot of time here," head coach Adam Gase said at the NFL scouting combine. "We have to make decisions on so many players and kind of see how free agency goes, see how the draft goes."
If the Dolphins can’t trade James, who has started all 47 games he played at right
tackle the past four seasons, it is possible that Miami will release him to clear additional cap space. James’ possible release could complicate getting a trade done because some teams might prefer to wait for him to become an unrestricted free agent.
Now that Jarvis Landry, another member of the 2014 draft class, has been traded to the Cleveland Browns in a deal that can’t become official until Wednesday the Dolphins have cleared $15.9 million in cap space. But Miami’s still $3 million over the league’s salary cap once the trade for defensive end Robert Quinn is factored in.
The Dolphins can clear another $12 million in cap space by releasing tight end Julius Thomas, and linebacker Lawrence Timmons in moves that are expected this week.
However, Miami would need to purge more of the roster, or restructure a few contracts to re-sign some of the team’s own free agents, like Young and kicker Cody Parkey, and make tender offers to the team’s seven restricted and exclusiverights free agents.
While Miami’s decision makers feel James is a capable starting right tackle, the organization views his $9.34 million salary in 2018 as exorbitant. One player on his fifth-year option, receiver Kelvin Benjamin, has already been moved, and like James, a few more could be traded or released before Wednesday.
The fifth-year option, which must be exercised in May, five months before a first-round pick begins playing his fourth season, pays players taken in the first 10 picks the equivalent of being placed on the transition tag, which is the average salary of the top-10 earning players at the same position. Players picked between picks 11-32 get the average of the 25 highestpaid players at their position, except for the first three. That’s how James’ $9.34 million salary was produced.
The Dolphins must opt into receiver DeVante Parker’s fifth-year option this May, and if Miami does exercise it they would be agreeing to pay the receiver roughly $8.5 million for the 2019 season.
However, fifth-year options are only guaranteed for injury before the league year begins. A team can avoid making the salary fully guaranteed by releasing the player before the start of the new league year, but that makes them an unrestricted free agent.
If released James, who turns 26 in June, would be viewed as one of the top offensive linemen available in free agency, joining New York Giants offensive lineman Justin Pugh, Carolina guard Andrew Norwell, New England’s Nate Solder and Cameron Fleming, and Pittsburgh’s Chris Hubbard.
He could then possibly land a lucrative multi-year deal similar to the four-year, $40-million deal Washington gave right tackle Morgan Moses, which guaranteed Moses $20 million.
If James is moved or released all the players selected in former general manager Dennis Hickey’s first draft class will be off the roster unless the Dolphins re-sign safety Walt Aikens, a fourth-round pick that year, or defensive end Terrence Fede, the 2014 seventh rounder. Both are unrestricted free agents.
Offensive guard Billy Turner, tight end Arthur Lynch, linebacker Jordan Tripp, receiver Matt Hazel were all released in previous years. All but Lynch were still on NFL rosters last season.