Miami Dolphins Can’t Afford To Lose Olivier Vernon Over 2016 Offseason

The Miami Dolphins have seemingly been a team on the cusp of playoff contention for the last five years now, but they once again had an underwhelming season. Ryan Tannehill could not get his team to the playoffs, and now they are moving into full out offseason mode. The team has a number of free agents this year, but the one who they can least afford to lose is young defensive end Olivier Vernon.

Vernon was a former third-round pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, and at the time it seemed like he was a little bit of a reach, as many projected him to be a fourth-round pick at the earliest. However, he has played above his draft status and has developed into one of the team’s most consistent pass rushers. Playing across from Cameron Wake in his first three seasons, Vernon notched 20.5 total sacks and created problems constantly for the opposition. He was good in the run game as well and is a really well-rounded player.

Though the numbers do not show it, the 2015 season may have been his best as a pro. Despite only totaling 7.5 sacks, Vernon spent a majority of the season as the team’s top pass-rusher, as Wake missed half of the year with an injury and free agent acquisition Ndamukong Suh did not put forth a great effort. He was the best player on the defensive side of the ball and he was the unsung hero for the Dolphins’ defense, which would have been far worse without him.

Re-signing Vernon needs to be a priority for the Dolphins. The fact of the matter is they do not have much beyond him on the defensive line. Wake is now a 34-year-old coming off of a torn Achilles while the team’s top depth player, Derrick Shelby, is also a free agent. Vernon, at age 25, is the future of the defensive line for the team and they must pay him to keep him around.

The team has a couple of options to keep Vernon. First, they could opt to use the franchise tag on him if they cannot agree to a long-term deal. Second, they could offer him a deal that is similar to the market value of defensive ends that he is comparable to. Vernon probably deserves about a five year, $40-45 million deal, which would make his contract similar to that of Carlos Dunlap and Jerry Hughes. If the Dolphins can afford to pony up and give him that money, then they should.

At the end of the day, the Dolphins really need to do everything they can to keep Vernon. Without him, their pass rush will suffer immensely and they could end up having a bottom 10 league defense at the very best.