Jarvis Landry’s contract negotiations are more complicated than we thought

“When will the Dolphins sign Jarvis Landry to a contract extension?” Outside the health of franchise quarterback Ryan Tannehill, that has been the highest profile question surrounding the Dolphins organization for the past several months. First, we all heard that Landry wouldn’t negotiate a contract extension during the season. Then, we found out that he and the Dolphins had finally begun trading contract proposals in recent weeks. Now, it appears there may be more going into those discussions than we first realized.

According to Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald, Miami’s front office is weighing far more than money when it comes to these contract talks, but let’s talk money first.

Landry feels that he should be compensated among the highest paid wide receivers in the league. Maybe not around Antonio Brown’s hefty $17 million per year contract, but closer to Dez Bryant’s $14 million per year average. That type of salary would place Landry just outside of the top 5 highest paid wide receivers. When looking only at the star wide receiver’s production, that kind of money makes sense. Landry has the most catches of any wide receiver in history over the first four year span of his career. The 2017 reception leader also holds Miami’s single season receiving record and has been voted to the Pro Bowl twice since entering the league.

However, much of Landry’s production in the reception column is due to Miami’s propensity for throwing short passes over the middle throughout the offense’s past four years. While that shouldn’t take anything away from Landry’s value to the team, his 8.8 average yards per reception this season show why looking only at the number of balls Landry has caught can skew one’s point of view.

That fact, along with a number of other factors enumerated below, amount to why Miami’s higher-ups are hoping to sign Landry to a contract closer to the $10-$12 million range.

It’s vital to take into account Landry’s impact on the team beyond his numbers when evaluating these negotations. Any player that is near the top of his roster in regards to salary needs to be a team leader. The Dolphins get that kind of leadership from Ryan Tannehill, Ndamukong Suh, Mike Pouncey, Cameron Wake, and Kenny Stills. Therefore, the team should expect the same from Landry, except he hasn’t shown the type of leadership traits that are needed from someone who other players look up to.

Landry has been cited as a player who routinely doesn’t pay attention to details, ignores his coaches, runs the wrong routes, and who loses control of his emotions in a way that hurts the team come game time. A player like is not someone who the coaching staff and front office want others to emulate.

Fans often overlook these issues because of Landry’s immense talent, clear passion for the game, and ability to wow a crowd. In many ways, Landry truly does emulate what it means to be a Miami Dolphin. He puts his heart and soul on the field every time he suits up for a game. However, the aforementioned issues aren’t something that a team with a tight salary cap can just overlook to keep the fanbase happy. The front office needs to sign players to contracts that are in the best interest of the team. That means Landry needs to be a team player both on and off the field if he wants to stay with the organization that drafted him.

There’s still a long ways to go in these negotiations, but one side is going to have to budge at least a little if any progress is going to be made. Otherwise, it’s entirely possible that Landry has played his last snap as a Miami Dolphin.