Dolphins officially tag Olivier Vernon
By Brian Miller
The Miami Dolphins have not been able to come to an agreement on a contract extension with Olivier Vernon so they tagged him. Miami officially announced that they are using the transition tag on their top defensive end.
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The tagging over Vernon does not mean that he will stay in Miami. In fact it almost assuredly guarantees his exit. The transition tag will cost $12.7 million dollars if he signs the deal. It also precludes any other team who signs him from having to give the Dolphins compensation.
With the transition tag now in place, the Dolphins can not hope for a best case scenario of trading Vernon. Vernon will hit the market on March 9th free to sign with whomever he wants. The Dolphins would then have five days to match the offer. Something Vernon has told the team he would give them an opportunity to do.
#Dolphins make it official, announcing that they've placed the transition tag on DE Olivier Vernon
— Greg Likens (@GregLikens) March 1, 2016
Last year the Dolphins applied the transistion tag to tight end Charles Clay who bolted to the Bills on a contract Miami could not meet. Vernon is going to enter the market as one of the top defensive ends in free agency. The Dolphins value him around $12 million but not $15 which is what he would have cost the team.
The Dolphins could still keep Vernon either by increasing the offer they made to him and thus signing him to an extension or by meeting the terms of any deal he signs elsewhere. While the NFL doesn’t allow “poison pill” language in their contracts anymore, a team that wants Vernon and doesn’t want Miami to match can simply front a large portion of his contract knowing Miami couldn’t match it.
What this basically means is that the Dolphins want the opportunity to keep Vernon but don’t want to commit to keeping him.
Things will get very interesting in another week when the league new year and free agency begins.