Stay, Go or Restructure- DE Cameron Wake

[So Be]

Stay, go or restructure: DE Cameron Wake
Experience: Seven seasons
2015 stats: Nine tackles, seven sacks
2016 salary/cap charge: $8.4 million/$9.8 million
Analysis: This will be a very tough decision for Miami. Wake played in just seven games this season before tearing his Achilles tendon in a loss to the New England Patriots. He will be 34 at the end of this month, and the Dolphins likely will have to make a decision on Wake’s $8.4 million salary well before he’s 100 percent healed. Wake met with the media after the team’s regular-season finale and said he’s confident he will return “better than ever” after the injury. The four-time Pro Bowler had seven sacks in seven games and was on his way to another double-digit sack season. Wake also provides much-needed leadership in Miami’s locker room. But it remains to be seen if this justifies Wake’s high salary.

[Driven_Phinsane!]

This my friend is not only a toughie for Miami the organization, but a HUGE TOUGHIE for the fanbase as well...Wake is one of my all-time fave's, but i have to say i was really disppointed in his play at the beginning of this past season..I guess i didn't realize how much his injury was slowing him down because his play was absolute BEAST when he got healthy, only wish we could've seen what the remainder of the season had in store for both him & us. That being said, this is a business with zero room for sentiment, How much value can you place on a 34 y.o. pass-rush specialist coming off what would typically amount to as a catastrophic injury to an athlete whose bread & butter relies on explosion???...

[Dolfan1]

IF he gets healthy again, I'd like to see them restructure him. He deserves to retire a Phin.

[Driven_Phinsane!]

IF he gets healthy again, I'd like to see them restructure him. He deserves to retire a Phin.

yeah, but what did he ever do to deserve that punishment, lol...

[So Be]

Tuff choice here. If you do not love Wake for who he is and what he has done, you are not a Phan. However, a pass rush past Suh is a puzzle for the team with Cam's age, injury and cap hit a problem. Unless you believe t6hat taking Lawson at #1 is the answer, our best option would be signing Vernon to a long term deal which would allow keeping Wake, at a reduced contract for this year, with a cheap first year for OV. This would be my best choice.

If we lose OV, we will likely keep Wake and face the problem again next year.

[FTLDOLFAN]

This is a tough one. We would save $8.4 million by releasing him. We don't know if he will be worth his $9.8 million salary. If he makes a full recovery and has a double digit sack season then yes he would be worth it but he could also be a shell of his former self. I think it will depend on if we can resign OV at a reasonable price. If we can then we might release Wake but if we can't then we might just roll the dice and keep him for another year. I don't think he would restructure his contract. He would probably prefer to bet on himself as a free agent.

I would like to bring one of them back and then draft a DE. The bottom line is do we want to invest long term in OV or hope we can get one more good year out of Wake.

[So Be]

A bit of fantasy here. We keep OV and Wake is his old self. We get to see them and Suh do what most expected last year.

[Driven_Phinsane!]

The team faces a very difficult situation here, OV's gonna get paid by somebody and not too sure it should be us..We're either gonna have to franchise him or seriously overpay him, IMO while he's proven to be a talented player he's also proven himself to be very undisciplined & not the brightest at times...

[ONole1]

If they can't sign OV tag him. It would be about $10m in 2016. which is well worth the production he gave last year. See if he can do it two years in a row.

[Driven_Phinsane!]

I know he came on strong towards the end of last year but he scares me; i could see him getting paid & doing a complete disappearing act..Also, it sure would be nice to pay the $$ & actually get a committed player who can play both the run & the pass equally effective!

[So Be]

A franchise tag will cost $15M or more this year.

[ONole1]

I think Wake would like to stay in Miami. He has said he is open to restructure. I would restructure Wake and use him as a situational pass rusher. OV is going nowhere. The guys was the #1 rated DE in the NFL last year and once he got healthy he was a disruptive force and almost unblockable in pass rushing situations. He doesn't set the edge well, but he was one of if not the best rushers in the NFL last year.

If I am Miami I free up money elsewhere and restructure Wake, sign or tag OV and get Shelby resigned. If they can do that they don't need to address the DE position in the draft and they can address DB, LB and OL.

[FinFan in KC]

I think they restructure his contract. Wake seems like the kinda team guy that would be more than willing to do this.

[So Be]

I expect OV to get a 5 year 60M deal with 30M guaranteed, like what Wallace got from us. Understand that most all NFL contracts are basically 3 year deals with options, and only the guaranteed money is important.

Let's take a look at the Wallace contract. He got an $11M signing bonus, gave us a cap hit of $3M the first year, $17M the second, and would have been a $10M hit in his third year. At that point we could have moved him with a $4m hit/dead money. We traded him early, took a bigger hit, and strangely enough, the 5th rounder we got ended up to be Ajayi.

I expect something similar with Vernon, although the numbers in the three years can change. Still, he would cost us around $30M for three years with an out for around 5M. He is 25, very good, and we need him. He has yet to hit his prime and I expect him to get better.

If he does get better, we got a deal. If he stays the same, I think it's fair with salaries going up along with the cap. If he does not work out, we move him and very likely get a decent pick back in trade. I'm not seeing the problem. I look more to the 80 total QB pressures this year while Suh settled in and with and without Wake in place of some nit picking on penalties, which can be corrected with coaching.

I can see OV and Wake (restructure) costing around $12M this year, and who has a problem with that?

[Finatic]

I say they restructure to a deal that is incentive laden. This gives him the chance to get paid if he produces, but is cap friendly if he doesn't. I would like to see him stay. But make no mistake about it that popped achillies is going to slow him down a half step and that is what made Wake the beast he was. That speed off the edge.

[VAIDER5120]

I wouldn't bet against Wake. I think he'll comeback from the injury but he will still be a pass rushing specialist. I want EARTHWAKE to restructure and stay but the FO may not see it that way and if that's the case Wake deserves to go to a contender for the FIRST time in his NFL career.

[So Be]

Putting money aside for the moment, Wake's injury adds to the question as we will not know of his recovery until long after FA and the draft. Does the team proceed as if he is not going to be ready or, that he is? It is complicated.

[Dolfan1]

Putting money aside for the moment, Wake's injury adds to the question as we will not know of his recovery until long after FA and the draft. Does the team proceed as if he is not going to be ready or, that he is? It is complicated.

In that case the team has to proceed like he "Isn't" going to be ready.