ESPN's Chris Mortensen is reporting that the Dolphins have reached a contract agreement with Michigan OT Jake Long to be the team's #1 overall pick in Saturday's draft:
The announcement will come at a 1:45 p.m. ET news conference.
And if you head over to miamidolphins.com, you'll see on their homepage that they have a press conference scheduled for 1:45 pm for live broadcast on the site. The NFL Network will also carry the press conference, according to their bottom line ticker.
**UPDATE 1:10 pm** FOX Sports' Jay Glazer is reporting the deal is a 5 year deal:
**UPDATE 1:14 pm** The Sun-Sentinel is reporting that there is a press conference and it's to "likely" announce the signing of Jake Long. [end update]
**UPDATE 1:19 om** Incase you are wondering the money involved in this 5 year deal, here it is: It's a 5 year, $57.5 million deal that includes $30 million in guaranteed money according to NFL Network's bottom line ticker. That's more per year than JaMarcus Russell got, but is less in guaranteed money. I suppose the concession that the Dolphins had to make in order to get Jake signed to a deal that was worth less in total value than Russell's was to give him one fewer year, allowing him to hit free agency one year earlier. It seems like a fair deal for both parties. [end update]
**UPDATE 1:26 pm** For those that are wondering, Joe Thomas signed a 5 year, $42 million deal with Cleveland last year, including $23 million in guaranteed money. So it's quite an increase over Thomas' deal, but keep in mind that he was the 3rd pick, not the first. [end update]
**UPDATE 1:28 pm** Is anybody else wondering if Jeff Ireland is going to address his "slip up" from last Thursday's press conference? If I was him, I'd make some kind of joke about it. But that's just me.
Also, it seems the Miami Herald, who is continually late to these kinds of parties, has finally also posted a story about Jake's signing. [end update]
**UPDATE 2:07 pm** Two most interesting tidbits from the press conference are as follows. Jeff Ireland said that the deal is signed and he's a Miami Dolphin. The other was that Tony Sparano said that he views Jake Long as a left tackle and that's what he's going to play for this team. So that means Vernon Carey will be moving back to right tackle, where he could really be a superstar. I have to say I'm quite excited about our two bookends now! [end update]
**UPDATE 2:16 pm** Asked about his slip up and if things changed or if he's that good of an actor, Jeff Ireland responded, "That's for me to know, for you to guess about." [end update
**UPDATE 2:20 pm** Ireland was also asked if the Dolphins spoke with any other agents about the #1 pick, and Ireland said they did not. Clearly, Jake Long was "their guy" all along. [end update]
More on this as I hear it.