Charles Clay wasn't a household name for anyone outside of Miami prior to this NFL offseason, but for fans of the Buffalo Bills, he's suddenly become a much-discussed commodity.
New Bills head coach Rex Ryan is reportedly enamored with the ascending tight end and speculation has built that Ryan and the Buffalo brass are putting together an offer sheet for Clay, slapped with the transition tag by the Dolphins, which Miami hopefully would be unable to match.
"Clay continues to carry the transition tag the Miami Dolphins applied to him, but a source close to the situation insisted Monday that the Bills' interest in him has not wavered, and they are going to follow through with plans to sign him to an offer sheet. Once that happens, the Dolphins will have five days to match to retain him or allow him to depart," reports Vic Carucci of The Buffalo News.
"The source put the Bills' chance of landing Clay at '90 percent.'"
As the former head coach of the New York Jets, Ryan reportedly "knows the challenges" Clay presents to the opposing defense, though Clay has only 17 receptions for 169 yards and two touchdowns in his career against the Jets.
Clay, 26, just completed his fourth NFL season. He has 161 receptions, 1,809 yards and 14 touchdowns receiving thus far in his career.
He's a versatile player more aptly described as an "H-back" than a normal tight end; the type of swiss army knife that can line up outwide, in-line and in the backfield and fill a number of roles that would otherwise necessitate several players.
It's not surprising the Bills are chasing him or that they flew him to New York for three days last week.
With the Dolphins already signing Jordan Cameron and handing a huge contract to defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh the Dolphins now have about $11.6 million in cap space remaining, per OverTheCap.com. While the Bills only have $14.2 million, their hope seems to be that they're able to structure an offer sheet for Clay in a way that would prohibit Miami from matching.
