Dolphins re-sign Kiko Alonso to long-term contract

The Miami Dolphins and linebacker Kiko Alonso have reached an agreement on a three-year contract extension, adding on to the one-year restricted free agent tender that the team placed on him prior to the start of free agency. The $29 million contract, with $18.5 million guaranteed, keeps Alonso under contract through 2020 with the Dolphins.

The new contract was reported across multiple media sources, including Joe Schad, Armando Salguero, and Mike Garafolo.

Alonso served as Miami’s middle linebacker last year, his first in South Florida. The team traded for him from the Philadelphia Eagles, where he had spent one season. He was originally with the Buffalo Bills for two years, but missed the entire 2014 season due to injury. He was a second-round pick of the Bills in 2013.

The Dolphins had placed a first-round tender on Alonso, which would have paid him $3.9 million this season. He was free to negotiate with other teams, though any team that reached an agreement with Alonso would have owed Miami, if they chose not to match, a first-round pick in next month’s NFL Draft. Alonso and the Dolphins were reportedly working on a new contract prior to the start of free agency, and were hopeful the tender would not have been needed.