Should the Miami Dolphins Re-sign Jarvis Landry

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The Jarvis Landry saga has reached critical mass. These negotiations were destined to become contentious when Miami failed to sign him prior to the 2017 season.

There are reasonable expectations and points to ponder on both sides, but just the mere fact that Landry has not already signed is a clear indication, he is swinging for the fence. And why not, these players are lucky to get one shot at a big payday and they should go for the bank when the opportunity arrives.

From Landry's side, there's a lot to be happy with. He owns the NFL record for the most catches in his first 4 seasons and will own the record for 5 shortly into the 2018 season. While players like his buddy OBJ or Antonio Brown have spent multiple games on injured reserve, Landry has been on the field proving his longevity and toughness.

When things are going well, we hear how Juice Landry is the spark that ignites the Miami offense. His enthusiasm rubs off on the entire team and generates jolts of energy leading to big plays.

There's one other item of significance that should not be overlooked when thinking about whether Miami should pay Jarvis Landry...

In four years, Landry has made a grand total of $3,474,911.

Miami has had the NFL's leading receiver in his first 4 seasons at a paltry $875,000 per season.

The Dolphins certainly don't want to make that number public even though it's very easy to find. Landry has been grossly underpaid regardless of what the Dolphins want the public to believe.

On the negative side...

Landry's agent has played some media cards recently suggesting Landry has put up these catch numbers while playing with inferior talent at the QB position. This is a terrible negotiating tactic. Throwing other players under the bus is what Miko Grimes is good for, not a professional agent even if he believes it's true.

Damarius Bilbo basically let the cat out of the bag with this one single statement. If Landry did not believe this was true, he would never have put this thought prominently in the mind of his agent. They may now reverse course and say it was taken out of context or it is fake news, but it's too late. We know now what Jarvis thinks and why these negotiations have taken so long.

We had this romantic idea that Jarvis Landry was the yin to OBJ's yang. We thought all along we got the more humble version of the Beckham side show. What we got was a player who desperately wants out of Beckham's shadow, for his own moment in the spotlight.

Show me the money!

All Damarius Bilbo had to say was, "my guy has been playing at a Pro Bowl level for the Miami Dolphins at bottom basement prices." Period, plain and simple, but he threw out some dirty laundry and started a dumpster fire.

From the Dolphin's perspective, that's exactly what they've been dealing with. A player who should keep his head in difficult situations, but instead loses his cool and costs his team numerous foolish penalties that lead to losing games. The player obviously doesn't recognize his own faults or these poor emotional decisions would have been corrected.

The same player that doesn't study well, doesn't always run proper routes, has now allowed a locker room leadership issue to bubble to the surface thanks to his own agent. When the team says there are locker room leadership issues and the agent says, "he has not had the greatest QBs throwing to him." A tiny crack appears and we get to see inside the locker room fraternity for a brief moment.

$875,000 a year for 4 years is chump-change in comparison to Landry's performance on the field. Even if the Dolphins pay Landry $15 million for the next 4 years, it only averages out to about $8 million a year over 8 seasons including his first 4.

Why the contention from Bilbo? Why the mud slinging when all he has to say is, "Jarvis Landry is well worth $8 million a season, even as a slot receiver."

The only thing that makes sense is, Landry is unhappy with his QB situation. Hence, he is unhappy with the coaches and management backing and paying a mediocre QB room...

QB - Coaches - Management... Perhaps Jarvis is right, they all suck and he should move on.

Otherwise, he should fire his foolish agent. Admit there are things he needs to work on and negotiate with numbers, not dumpster fires...

The Miami Dolphins Need to Pay Jarvis Landry

“We’re building something special here…”

This quote leads to a curious case with Jarvis Landry and his value to the Miami Dolphins. Will it become a point of contention the longer the prolific wide receiver remains without a contract extension? As a slot receiver, Landry is rarely mentioned in the same sentence with his flashy college teammate Odell Beckham. Yet Landry holds the NFL record for the most receptions in his first two seasons, catching 194 passes. Landry and Beckham are tied for the most catches after three seasons with 288.

Landry is oft criticized for finding the endzone only 13 time in three seasons but he has a history of mastering perceived shortcomings. Overshadowed by Beckham and posting a pedestrian 4.61 40 yard dash allowed Landry to slip to the Dolphins in the second round. At 5’11” he’s not the biggest target, in fact, few of his tangible measurements stood out during the 2014 combine. Only when plugging in the tape does Landry’s value as a football player and teammate become apparent.

Landry is the spark plug that ignites the Miami Dolphin engine. Landry is the playmaker in moments of desperation. Landry is the leader when others lose confidence. These intangible assets, unlike 40 times, are his core value. On a team with a subdued Ryan Tannehill at QB, the fiery leadership comes from another position in the huddle. That position belongs to Juice Landry, he is the juice that gets the party started.

“We’re building something special here…”

A slot receiver is not typically a big money player, that designation goes to DeVante Parker with his first round pedigree and off the chart combine numbers. Clearly tangible measurements do not make a football player. Parker may one day live up to the team’s draft day expectations, but this is more an indictment of the process. Rewarding 40 yard dashes over demonstrated accomplishments on the football field has led to more Dion Jordan’s than Jarvis Landry’s.

Those first round mistakes created the rookie salary cap because the risk/reward of the unknown is a losing proposition. The notion of paying more to veteran players is a joke and a lie. The NFL power brokers grew tired of their own mistakes and decided to mitigate them by forcing rookies to demonstrate their worth before any big money changed greedy hands.

Under the leadership of Adam Gase, the Miami Dolphins have made a paradigm shift in personnel philosophy. Moving from perennial winners of March free agent Madness to a pay-for-play homegrown revolution. Gase’s message is simple and direct, “put it all on the field for me and you’ll get paid by me.” In the free agent age, where money-grabs rule, and players usually switch teams to obtain their perceived value, the approach is both refreshing and enlightened.

“We’re building something special here…”

The concept offers a subtle solution to the question, “how do you motivate players after they become multimillionaires?” Football players like Juice Landry are not as motivated by pure dollars as many outside the locker room would think. Football players know, a single hit or shift in a scrum pile can end their careers’ instantly. When the opportunity to get rich knocks, only a fool wouldn’t jump, especially after working their entire lives to achieve stardom in their chosen profession.

Clearly, the resounding drop-off in performance when players switch teams shows that dollars rarely motivate. The answer lies in the locker room where Jarvis Landry sits waiting on his payday and watches outsiders like Ndamukong Suh stride in with $100 million dollars in their pocket. Resentment is probably a word rarely uttered in NFL circles and yet, why did Suh leave Detroit to get paid? He now sits with two locker stalls in an obscure corner, his $100 million dollars flying like banner over his locker. Are the players around him not supposed to feel resentment?

Therein lies the answer… The Miami Dolphins (among other teams) flounder because, letting players walk out the door to get paid sends the wrong message. Bringing in players from other teams and paying them sends the wrong message. Kenny Stills could have a better contract, Kiko Alonso could have waited for free agency, Cameron Wake could have played out his contract, and Andre Branch would’ve received the same deal elsewhere. They chose to stay in Miami.

“We’re building something special here…”

Teammates motivate multimillionaires… Not coaches, not dollars, not accolades, teammates. When players jump ship to get paid, the locker room breaks down. When new players enter that are not part of the chemistry, the locker room breaks down.

Gase has made a brilliant observation, teammates motivate multimillionaires… 

When teammates hold each other accountable, the dollars are of no consequence. The bad ass defensive tackle in the corner is as much a part of the fabric as the geeky clutch kicker. Together, they strive for greatness and the dollars take care of themselves. “Play for me and I’ll get you paid.”

“We’re building something special here…”

Jarvis Landry is the embodiment of this philosophy because he does not need dollars to put it out on the field. He is the player Adam Gase envisioned when he thought through this personnel concept and now The Juice needs some oranges squeezed! Would it be surprising to learn Jarvis Landry asked his coach to, “take care of my boys first?” It is purely conjecture, but Landry making that statement rings true, because he’s the ultimate teammate.

And now, it’s time to pay The Juice.

“We’re building something special here…”

Miami loses a winnable game against the Giants.

MNF Miami Dolphins Versus New York Giants Post Game Analysis. By Tony Nicoletti


31 to 24 was the final score in the Giants favor.

What can I say? It was a mediocre game played by two mediocre teams that were both, 5 and 7. There was not much good that can be derived from this loss. The New York Giants had a little more incentive to win than the Dolphins, I guess. Of course, in a division where a 6 and 7 record has you in a three-way tie for the division lead. Yeah, they had something to play for. Miami is in the wrong eastern division to get breaks like that.

I'm not going to give you a blow by blow since it was a nationally televised, Monday night game. Besides, I really didn't get to watch the game much. (I saw glimpses of it during commercials while my brother in law was watching his usual, 3-hour Monday Night Raw Wrestling)! I'm going to offer my impressions from what I did see with a few statistics sprinkled in for good measure.

On the negative side; It appears that Odell Beckham got the better of his LSU Collegiate teammate and friend, (Jarvis Landry) on this afternoon. But not by much. Beckham Jr caught 7 passes for 166 yards, 2 TD's and his longest play was 84 yards for a TD.

Landry had an equally stellar game in a utilitarian way. He caught 11 passes for 99 yards, 0 TD's with a long play of 25 yards. Landry also contributed 66 yards on two kickoff returns and another 30 yards on a pair of punt returns. Still, I think Landry would rather have the win to go along with his stats.

The defense played stout for portions of the game but looked gassed near the end. You can't allow a veteran QB like Eli Manning any comfort zone or he will pick you apart. Especially with receivers like Odell Beckham. The Dolphins allowed several big plays to gash the defense. Manning was getting the ball out so fast that our pass rush seemed to always be a half step too late.

Miami's banged-up secondary did not challenge or disrupt the Giants receivers enough to break Manning's timing or rhythm. It proved to be the Dolphins downfall. Especially in the second half where Eli got 183 yards of his 337 total passing yards. He connected on 27 of 31 pass attempts, (an 87% completion rate) and 4 TD's. It's a wonder the Dolphins only lost by 7 points when your QB is racking up stats like that.

There were only a few positives to consider in this match up for Miami. If you want to call them positives?

For the second week in a row, Miami did not allow their opponent to rush for more than 100 yards. (92 yards on 32 carries for a 2.9-yard average and we had 5 stops for a loss totaling 13 yards). New York didn't get any negative yardage plays on our rushing attack which produced a solid 128 total yards on 22 attempts and a 5.8 yard per carry average. Miller had a good day rushing 12 times for 89 yards, 2 TD's and a long run of 38 yards for one score.

Ryan Tannehill played a decent game and was better utilized, adding 24 rushing yards on 4 carries with a long of 12 yards. He also rolled out and scrambled more to avoid the rush and to buy some time. He completed 25 of his 41 attempts, (60% completion rate) for 236 yards and a TD, with no interceptions. He also audibled out of a few plays that had successful outcomes. He spread the ball around well, too.

But it seemed that just about the time we needed Ryan Tannehill to step up and put the team on his shoulders, the offensive line would fail him and send him running for his life. He almost avoided the only sack in the game when he didn't quite make it back to the line of scrimmage on one play. He's still getting mauled in the back field and hit too much.

I think another week or two in this offensive game plan and this team will start putting points up on a more consistent basis. The defense is playing good enough to help us win, but we can't continue the offensive, "three and outs" which puts a tired defense back on the field.

Unfortunately, with only three games left to play, I think we can expect to see major changes for the Miami Dolphins in the off season. I like the play calling in this game which stretched and forced the Giants to defend the entire field of play. We did score 24 points which, in the NFL, is almost enough to win.

It will be interesting to see how the Dolphins finish the season and what kind of character they will show. Yes, they are definitely out of the playoffs but still have a lot to play for. The players and coaches are basically auditioning for jobs next year. Be it with the Dolphins, or some other team.

It is a disappointment for many of the Dolphin loyals to endure another mediocre season. But this is who the Dolphins are right now. It's been a growing experience since Ross bought this team. All we can hope for is that he has learned enough from his past mistakes to make the right decisions this time around.

Thank you for your patience and understanding. I know I am a a homer and an eternal optomist where our beloved Dolphins are concerned. Have been for their entire 50 years of existernce. I just hope and pray that this storied franchise gets their act together and return to their former glory, real soon.


Thanks for your time in reading, and please tell us your side of this games story!