The Miami Dolphins placed the transition tag on tight end Charles Clay before Monday's 4 p.m. deadline, which gives other teams the opportunity to present an offer to the 26-year-old without having to compensate the Dolphins. Will others in need of a tight end wind up chasing Clay?
Miami can match any offer Clay receives, but he's guaranteed to earn the average of the top 10 tight end salaries in the league, which is $7.071 million. The official franchise tag figure for the tight end position was set at $8.347 million today, so if nobody makes Clay a higher offer the Dolphins will be saving themselves a little bit of cash, or at least buy them some time to sign him to an extension.
But being that some teams are in need of a tight end, it's possible Clay gets persuaded to sign elsewhere.
A few of those teams include the Seattle Seahawks, Atlanta Falcons and Cleveland Browns. All of these teams have a need at the position entering the offseason and are likely to address it either in free agency or the draft. Seattle has been in need of a tight end for quite a while and could significantly benefit from a player such as Clay; the Falcons have needed one since Tony Gonzalez retired after the 2013 season; and Cleveland will be in need as well when Jordan Cameron likely departs in free agency.
Miami has been in talks with Clay, but the transition tag nearly evens the playing field for others interested. It was mentioned the Denver Broncos could make a run at Clay due to the possible departure of Julius Thomas, which throws yet another team into the mix. However, the Seahawks, Falcons and Browns have immediate, glaring needs at the position and have sufficient room (for the time being) under their salary caps. In fact, it's been reported the Falcons are a serious suitor for Julius Thomas, meaning they have more than enough money to sign Clay if Thomas were to re-sign with Denver.
The 2015 salary cap has been set at $143.28 million and here are the current totals for each aforementioned team, according to Spotrac.com:
Seahawks: $124,348,204
Falcons: $111,720,733
Browns: $115,743,734
Dolphins: $144,606,069
Broncos: $138,817,035
Clay is expected to land a deal that will pay him $6 million per season, which isn't too expensive for a player of his caliber and age. It wouldn't be surprising if one of the other teams out-bid the Dolphins in hopes of landing an experienced tight end that can contribute immediately instead of gambling on a player coming out of the draft.
Keep an eye out for Seattle since they tried to trade for Julius Thomas right before the deadline in 2014.
