Dolphins reportedly bypass using franchise tag on Christian Wilkins. What it means

The Dolphins, facing a salary cap crunch, will not use the franchise tag on defensive tackle Christian Wilkins and will allow him to test free agency.

NFL Network first reported that decision, on the eve of Tuesday’s 4 p.m. deadline for teams to use the franchise tag or transition tag on players.

Miami now stands at risk of losing one of its most durable and dependable players on defense and a key cog on a rushing defense that held teams to 3.8 per carry, tied for third best in the league last season.

Wilkins is now set to become a free agent for the first time in his career and can sign with another team when the new league year starts next week. The Dolphins are expected to monitor Wilkins’ free agent market and will leave open the possibility of trying to re-sign Wilkins if bidding doesn’t reach a price point that they would view as unpalatable.

Coach Mike McDaniel said at the recent NFL Combine that Miami would like to keep Wilkins.

“We know who Christian is, the type of person and player and what he brings to the organization,” general manager Chris Grier said last week.

Using the nonexclusive franchise tag on Wilkins would have resulted in a 2024 cap hit and salary of $22.1 million for next season. Signing Wilkins to a long-term contract — which remains a possibility — likely would result in an annual salary in that range but could significantly lower his 2024 cap number depending on how the contract is structured.

The Dolphins and Wilkins’ agent discussed the terms of an extension before the 2023 season, “but we couldn’t close that gap at the end,” Grier said in January. The two sides met at the combine in Indianapolis last week to continue discussions but were unable to finalize a deal ahead of Tuesday’s deadline.

“At the end of the day, it’s not what he had to do as we were talking and trying to build a team and put together a roster of trying to work together and try to find something that was fair to him and us,” Grier said of last summer’s negotiations with Wilkins’ agent, David Mulugheta. “At the end of the day, we tried, and the agent acknowledged it was a very fair offer and we felt good. So we’ll see where that takes us this offseason.”

One reason why using the franchise tag on Wilkins became unappealing for the team: the Dolphins are $31 million over the salary cap, per overthecap.com. That means they would need to clear out more than $70 million in cap space, over the next week, to not only get under the cap but also have the room to allocate the $22.1 million franchise tag for Wilkins and conduct other business early in free agency.

Miami will need to sign a veteran tackle to play alongside Zach Sieler, whether it’s Wilkins or a player from a fairly limited group of starting, affordable free agents defensive tackles.

Potentially affordable free agent options who could replace Wilkins include the Texans’ Sheldon Rankins, Bills’ DaQuan Jones and Browns’ Shelby Harris.

Starting nose tackle Raekwon Davis is also set to become a free agent next week.

After staging a hold-in throughout the second half of training camp, Wilkins returned to the field and continued his ascension as one of the league’s better defensive tackles, recording a career-high nine sacks in 2023.

The No. 13 overall pick in the 2019 Draft, Wilkins has also emerged as a team captain and fan favorite with his boisterous personality. Wilkins has the most tackles of any defensive tackle since entering the league. Over five seasons, Wilkins has produced 355 tackles, 43 tackles for loss and 20.5 sacks.

Last season, he had a career-high in sacks but his tackles fell from 98 to 65 and his tackles for loss dropped from 16 to 10. On the flip side, his quarterback hits jumped from 7 to 23.

Wilkins’ durability has been a strength. He hasn’t missed a game in three seasons. His 968 snaps were the most among all NFL interior defenders last season.

In evaluating 2023 performance, Pro Football Focus rated him the 29th-best interior defender among 130 qualifiers.

PFF ranks him seventh overall among all impending free agents, noting: “Wilkins hoped to get an extension done before the 2023 season but didn’t let the lack of one amid many at the position slow him down.

“Wilkins is as good a run defender as any interior defensive lineman in the NFL, setting career highs in every pass-rushing category this season — including pass-rush win rate, pressure rate, sacks, quarterback hits and pressures.”

The Dolphins last used the franchise tag on tight end Mike Gesicki in 2022. Unless the Dolphins shockingly use the $20 million offensive line franchise tag on guard Robert Hunt, they appear poised to bypass using the tag for a second consecutive year.