Why Dolphins Won't Use One Free Agent Retention Path in 2026

There’s one avenue the Miami Dolphins should avoid when looking to retain a few of their 29 internal free agents.

Some of those free agents fall in the “restricted” category, which could allow the Dolphins to retain them more easily. However, we’re not expecting Miami to utilize this method like it did last season with Kader Kohou.

Miami placed a “right of first refusal” tender on Kohou last offseason, and it didn’t exactly go well. The Dolphins aren’t responsible for Kohou’s injury, but using up what limited cap space they have on a tender just doesn’t make sense.

That becomes especially more obvious when you consider which players are exclusive rights and restricted free agents. Let’s dive into why Miami would be wise to avoid using this in 2026.

Miami’s Restricted Free Agents and Tender Cost

The Dolphins have two exclusive rights free agents (Obinna Eze and Ethan Bonner) and three regular restricted free agents (Julian Hill, Cameron Goode and Matthew Butler).

There’s a big difference between exclusive rights free agents and restricted free agents. An exclusive rights free agent has an expired contract and fewer than three accrued seasons. If their original team offers a one-year league-minimum tender, the player cannot negotiate with other teams.

A restricted free agent has at least three accrued seasons and must be given one of three tenders: first-round tender ($8.107M), second-round tender ($5.811M) and right of first refusal tender ($3.547M).

None of the team’s three restricted free agents is worth the tender the Dolphins would have to give them. Hill is probably the closest to being worth it, but blocking tight ends have a relatively low average annual value.

If the team wants Hill back, it would be better off negotiating a new contract with him.

Other Tags the Dolphins Won’t Be Using

The restricted and exclusive rights tags aren’t the only ones Miami won’t be using this offseason. The team won’t be using the franchise tag since there isn’t anyone worth giving it to.

The last time the Dolphins used the tag was on tight end Mike Gesicki ahead of the 2022 season, when the team hired Mike McDaniel. In fact, Miami hasn’t used the franchise tag much in recent history.

The team could’ve used it on players like Jevon Holland, Robert Hunt, and Christian Wilkins over the years, but former GM Chris Grier wasn’t overly fond of it. We’ll have to see if Jon-Eric Sullivan uses it more in future years.

The last thing worth mentioning is that Miami doesn’t have decisions to make on fifth-year options this offseason. The 2023 class is up for fifth-year options, and that’s famously the year Miami was stripped of its first-round pick.

The Dolphins’ first pick in that draft ended up being Cam Smith at 51st overall, and he was a miss.

The team did get De’Von Achane with the 84th overall pick, so that means he’s eligible for a contract extension for the first time this offseason. That’s something to watch as the offseason rolls on.