It appears the Miami Dolphins might have to use a significant portion of the team’s cap space or one of its early draft picks to find a new starting defensive end.
That is because Emmanuel Ogbah, who has led the team in sacks the past two seasons, appears to have one foot out the door.
Ogbah’s camp and the Dolphins aren’t close to an agreement on a new deal according to a league source, so unless the existing offer gets sweetened — or Miami is allowed to match another team’s offer, which is unlikely — it appears as if the Dolphins will be losing the team’s top defensive lineman.
Ogbah, who recorded 83 tackles, 45 quarterback hits, 18 sacks, four forced fumbles and 17 pass deflections in his two seasons in Miami, hopes to command a salary in the neighborhood of the defensive end deals the Raiders gave pass rusher Maxx Crosby (four-year, $95 million with $53 million guaranteed), and the Titans gave Harold Landry (five-year, $87.5 million, with $52.5 million guaranteed) this week.
Both Crosby, who is 24, and Landry, who is 25, are significantly younger than Ogbah, who turned 28 in November. So maybe getting into the $17.5-19 million-a-year salary range might be far-fetched. But his next deal should safely double the $7.5 million Miami paid him the past two seasons, when the former Oklahoma State standout, who was taken in the second-round of the 2016 NFL draft, joined Miami as a mid-tier free agent.
There’s nothing mid-tier about Ogbah’s game these days, and he’s trying to land a contract that will set up his family of Nigerian immigrants for generations. The Dolphins seemingly want to land the South Florida native on a hometown discount.
Where Ogbah’s next contract comes from depends on the teams that submit offers on Monday, which is when official contract talks can take place. Offers can be made as early as 11 a.m. on Monday, and contracts can be agreed to, but not signed. Agents typically discuss the framework of contact requests with teams before the legal tampering period, so Drew Rosenhaus, who represents Ogbah and dozens of other free agents, has a good understanding of what, and where Ogbah’s market is.
Only a player’s present team can sign him before Wednesday, which is the start of the NFL’s new league year. Those free agents who intend on signing elsewhere must wait till Wednesday to take a physical and sign the paper work.
If Ogbah leaves Miami as a free agent, the Dolphins would likely push hard to sign another versatile defensive end, one who is scheme-diverse like Ogbah, making him able to seamlessly play multiple spots on Miami’s hybrid defense, which shifts from a 4-3 to a 3-4 scheme rountinely.
Newcomer Daeshon Hall, who was signed two weeks ago, is the only player on the Dolphins existing roster who is listed as a defensive end. But it’s clear that Jaelan Phillip, a former University of Miami standout whom the Dolphins selected with 18th pick in the 2021 draft, has the skill set to do so. Phillips might be playing end full-time considering that was the main role he served in the second half of the season, when he registered the bulk of his 42 tackles and 8.5 sacks.
Miami has reportedly expressed some level of interest in Arizona pass rusher Chandler Jones, who has a history with Dolphins defensive coordinator Josh Boyer from their time together in New England. Problem is that Jones just turned 32. But last season the pass rusher contributed 41 tackles, 10.5 sacks, forced six fumbles and contributed 26 quarterback hits. Five of those sacks came in the season opener.
Jones’ age means he’ll likely sign a shorter, less lucrative deal than Ogbah. Jones earned $15.5 million last season in the final year of a five-year, $82.5 million contract he signed with Arizona in 2017.
Miami has flirted with the possibly of Jadeveon Clowney becoming a Dolphins for the past two years, and this might be the time the defensive end, who recorded 37 tackles and nine sacks with the Browns last season, takes the Dolphins seriously. Clowney played on a one-year, incentive-laden deal that saw the Browns pay him $8 million last season.
The Dolphins could also explore signing Melvin Ingram, another South Florida native. The Dolphins brought in Ingram for a workout last offseason, when he was recovering from a knee injury, but didn’t sign him. Ingram, who will turn 33 in April, ended up signing with Pittsburgh and was traded to Kansas City in the season’s final two months. He logged 25 tackles and two sacks in the 15 games and 592 snaps he played last season.
The direction the Dolphins, which have roughly $48 million in cap space available for free agency, the draft and to rework contracts, go during free agency is hard to determine because all situations are fluid, and have many variables.
But losing Ogbah would make defensive end one of the team’s top positions of need, pushing it ahead of linebacker, receiver, offensive line and tailback.
