Fifth-Year Option Numbers ... and Dolphins Decisions
The fifth-year option numbers for 2023 have been revealed, but the figures shouldn't really affect the three decisions the Miami Dolphins are facing this offseason because two of them should be slam dunks and the other also should be pretty clear.
Standard rookie contracts in the CBA call for four-year deals with a team option for the fifth year, with the amount of that fifth year based on position and determined by performance in the first three seasons.
The fifth-year pay scale goes from basic, to a higher amount based on playing time, to a higher amount based on one Pro Bowl invitation (not including alternates) in the first three seasons, to the highest amount based on two or more Pro Bowl invitations.
With all that in mind, the numbers for the fifth-year option of the Dolphins' three 2020 first-round picks were as such: $23.1 million for quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, $14.2 million for tackle Austin Jackson, and $11.5 million for cornerback Noah Igbinoghene.
Tagovailoa and Jackson each got the second-level amount at their position based on their playing time; Igbinoghene got the basic fifth-year option amount for cornerbacks.
Tagovailoa's fifth-year option amount is the third-highest among the 2020 draft picks, behind only Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert, who each came in at $29.5 million based on their one Pro Bowl invitation.
The fifth-year option obviously only applies for draft picks who remain on their rookie contract after their third season — regardless of whether they were traded to a different team.
There are 28 2020 first-round picks eligible for the fifth-year option. The four exceptions are 12th overall pick Henry Ruggs III, 19th overall pick Damon Arnette, 29th overall pick Isaiah Wilson and 31st overall pick Jeff Gladney.
Arnette and Wilson each briefly were members of the Dolphins in 2021, Arnette as a member of the practice squad at the end of the season and Wilson for a week after being acquired in an offseason trade with the Tennessee Titans.
Ruggs has been out of the NFL since he was arrested for DUI after an accident that resulted in the death of another driver in Las Vegas. Gladney was released by the Minnesota Vikings in August 2021 after being indicted for felony assault, signed with Arizona in March 2022 after being found not guilty, but then died in a car accident in May.
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DOLPHINS FIFTH-YEAR OPTION HISTORY
The Dolphins were faced with the fifth-year option decision last offseason with defensive tackle Christian Wilkins, though it was a pretty easy call to exercise it. As a result, Wilkins is scheduled to play the 2024 season for a fully guaranteed $10.8 million unless he is signed to a contract extension.
Looking back at previous Dolphins first-round picks:
-- 2018 first-round pick Minkah Fitzpatrick was traded to Pittsburgh shortly after the start of his second season; the Steelers exercised the fifth-year option.
-- 2017 first-round pick Charles Harris was traded to Atlanta right before the deadline to make the decision. In that 2020 offseason, the Dolphins had another 2017 first-round pick after signing Taco Charlton the previous year, but they ended up waiving the former Dallas Cowboys draft selection.
-- 2016 first-round pick Laremy Tunsil was traded to the Houston Texans in a mega deal in September 2019, four months after the Dolphins had exercised their fifth-year option for 2020.
-- With 2015 first-round pick DeVante Parker, the Dolphins exercised the fifth-year option for 2019 but then redid his contract and signed him to an extension through 2020 the following offseason.
-- With 2014 first-round pick Ja'Wuan James, the Dolphins exercised the fifth-year option for 2018 at $9.3 million, after which he became a free agent and signed with the Denver Broncos during the 2019 offseason.
-- With 2013 first-round pick Dion Jordan, the Dolphins never got to the point of having to make a decision on a fifth-year option after he was suspended for all of 2015 because of his off-the-field issues.
-- With 2012 top pick Ryan Tannehill, the Dolphins exercised the fifth-year option for 2016 but then replaced it with a four-year extension less than a month later.
-- With 2011 first-round pick Mike Pouncey, the Dolphins did a similar thing, exercising the fifth-year option before signing him to a long-term contract extension the following offseason.
THE DOLPHINS' DECISIONS WITH FIFTH-YEAR OPTIONS THIS OFFSEASONS
We'll go in reverse order of draft position here because the first two here should be obvious and requiring little conversation.
CB Noah Igbinoghene, 30th overall pick
Igbinoghene has been inactive for more games than not the past two seasons and barely has made any kind of impact on defense. There's no way the Dolphins are guaranteeing him $11 million for 2024. He's actually got a much better chance of not being on the roster in 2023.
T Austin Jackson, 18th overall pick
While the Dolphins might give Jackson another shot at the right tackle job in 2023, it's highly unlikely — and we emphasize the word "highly" — they'll guarantee him $14 million for 2024.
QB Tua Tagovailoa, 5th overall pick
That one is the complicated one, with a few factors involved.
GM Chris Grier publicly has stated that the Dolphins are rolling with Tua as the team's starting quarterback in 2023 and expressed his confidence that he won't be any more susceptible to concussions moving forward than any other player.
Tua also is coming off a breakout 2022 season where he led the entire NFL in passer rating, though his play dipped once December arrived.
If Tua stays healthy next season and takes another step forward, then having to pay him only $23 million in 2024 would be a bargain, if not a downright steal.
But understand that the fifth-year option becomes fully guaranteed — injuries and all — once it is exercised.
That means the Dolphins then would be on the hook for $23 million regardless of what happens in 2023, whether it's Tua getting hurt again or his play stagnating or even taking a step back.
If the Dolphins declined to exercise the fifth-year option, they always would have the option of placing the franchise tag on Tua next offseason if Tua has a big and healthy 2023 season or they could sign him to a long-term contract extension.
The franchise tag number for quarterbacks for 2023 has been set at $32.4 million and history shows, as spotrac.com indicated, the number goes up about $3 million every year. That would put the 2024 franchise tag for quarterbacks at about $35-36 million.
That would make it $13 million more to keep Tagovailoa — again, barring a long-term extension — in exchange for some protection against any kind of issues surfacing in 2023 that would want to move the Dolphins in a different direction or make them reluctant to give Tua a big-money contract.
One advantage to picking up the fifth-year option is that it controls to an extent Tua's price tag over the next two seasons instead of just one because the Dolphins could push back applying the franchise tag to 2025, which by then would stand around $39 million — still cheaper than a starting quarterback on his first extension.
This one clearly is not an easy decision because, yes, there still are questions about Tagovailoa.
The 2020 first-round picks became eligible last month to get a contract extension, and Burrow and Herbert are considered likely — if not downright locks — to get big-money deals this offseason because the Bengals and Chargers are all in on each quarterback for the long term.
With Tua, the big question is whether to fully guarantee him $23 million for 2024 because it would not make sense to give him a long-term contract with a lot of guaranteed money at this time when he's missed games with injuries every season in the NFL and even going back to college.
And if Tua takes another step forward in 2023 and stays healthy, then the Dolphins always could tag him for 2024 or give him the long-term contract then.
And if they tag him in 2024 and he has yet another product and injury-free (or with nothing of significance), then the long-term contract could come in 2025.
Either way, by then the Dolphins should be at the point where they need to make a definitive move with Tagovailoa because he then will have played five seasons in the NFL. And if questions remain at that time, then that's actually the answer that it's time to move on.
There's really no great sense in continuing to push back the inevitable long-term decision that's coming. Two more seasons should be plenty enough.
And that, as much as anything else, is why it doesn't make great sense to guarantee $23 million for 2024.
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