Say whatever you'd like about Mike Tannenbaum, but he spent more than a decade running NFL franchises and close to two negotiating contracts with agents.
That's why we have to pay attention to what the former New York Jets and Miami Dolphins executive says when it comes to building NFL franchises and navigating the business of professional football in his role as an ESPN analyst.
A recent written piece from Tannenbaum, who last worked for the Dolphins in 2018 as the top executive in the football side of the organization, included one of the Dolphins' top free agents.
Tannenbaum listed five free agents he'd target if he were running an NFL team, and Dolphins pass rusher Andrew Van Ginkel was the fourth name on the list, which also featured quarterback Kirk Cousins, tailback Derrick Henry, offensive tackle Tyron Smith and inside linebacker Bobby Wagner.
Tannenbaum, whose speciality supposedly was contract negotiations, proposes a deal he'd offer each player and set the price for Van Ginkel, who had a breakout season with the Dolphins last year with 69 tackles, six sacks, one interception and one fumble recovered, at three years, $36 million, with $25 million of that deal being guaranteed.
Tannenbaum explains fascination with Van Ginkel
That means Tannenbaum, the man who promoted Chris Grier as the Dolphins' general manager, is proposing that Van Ginkel is worth roughly $12.5 million a season, and here's his reasoning for the offer he'd make.
"In my opinion, (Van Ginkel) is one of the most underrated players in the NFL. While Van Ginkel will be 29 years old in July, he has played in every game over the past four seasons, and his production is certainly under the radar," Tannenbaum wrote about Van Ginkel, who the Dolphins re-signed last offseason, giving the former Wisconsin standout selected in the fifth round of the 2019 draft a one-year deal worth $2.6 million. "In 2023, he had a career year ... His role expanded while filling in for the injured Bradley Chubb and Jaelan Phillips in Miami. His 17.8 percent pass rush win rate and 10.7 percent pressure rate were both in the top 30 leaguewide, too."
Tannenbaum continued to justify the offer he'd make to Van Ginkel, who suffered a foot injury in Miami's season-ending loss to the Buffalo Bills that supposedly has healed, by pointing out "huge money will be spent on Danielle Hunter and Jonathan Greenard, but I like the upside, reliability and versatility of Van Ginkel at $12 million annually."
Dolphins still need to clear cap space
It doesn't help that the Dolphins presently aren't in position to make a lucrative offer to Van Ginkel since South Florida's NFL franchise needs to clear roughly $30 million in cap space to become cap-compliant by the March 13 deadline, which is the start of the new league year.
To become cap-compliant, the Dolphins need to spend the next four days extending players (receiver Tyreek Hill and cornerback Jalen Ramsey are prime candidates for extensions that would create about $14 million in cap space each), releasing players (tailback Jeff Wilson's release would clear $2.9 million in cap space), and shaking down players with bloated salaries.
And that $30 million doesn't include the cap space the Dolphins would need to re-sign some of the team's own top free agents, starters like defensive tackles Christian Wilkins and Raekwon Davis, offensive linemen Robert Hunt, Isaiah Wynn and Kendall Lamm, and safeties DeShon Elliott and Brandon Jones.
The Dolphins have been active this week, signing tight end Jonnu Smith, re-signing punter Jake Bailey and safety Elijah Campbell, and adding two defensive tackles (Isaiah Mack and Daviyon Nixon) who should be viewed as training camp bodies. But there's plenty of work left to rebuild, replenish or renovate last year's roster, which produced a 11-6 record.
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