The Dolphins have to decide whether to apply the franchise tag to Jarvis Landry. He’s been a productive possession receiver, but they’ve got other players at that position. They’ve already given a lucrative deal to Kenny Stills, and they’ve got DeVante Parker coming up. How much money do they want to commit to the wide receiver position?
Landry isn’t a great downfield threat. He doesn’t offer special size or speed. They primarily use him as an underneath option. Landry led the league with 112 catches last year but averaged only 8.8 yards per reception.
But Landry is tough and has shown an ability to work in traffic. That’s worth something. He helped them beat New England late last year, for example, with a pair of short touchdowns.
While it’s always nice to have that dynamic playmaker who gets downfield for the big kill-shot catch, it’s also worth something to have guys who are reliable short options.
Around the end zone, for example, Landry has been unusually effective. When they’ve been inside the 10 over the last two years, for example, they’ve gone 17 of 20 when passing for Landry. And Landry has done that with less-than-stellar quarterbacks – primarily Ryan Tannehill, Jay Cutler and Matt Moore.
Over the past two years, 35 other players have seen at least 12 targets in that part of the field. None of them has been as statistically effective as Landry. Probably best for the Dolphins to keep him around.
On this chart below, you’re seeing targets (“Att”), receptions, percentage completions (and that’s how they’re ordered). Final column shows combined touchdowns and 2-points conversions (“End zone” = EZ).
If the Dolphins decide to put the franchise tag on Landry, they would be committing to potentially paying him $16.325 million for the 2018 season. They could bring that number down some, perhaps, by signing him to a longer-term deal. That’s a lot of money, but Landry probably will sign for even more if the Dolphins let him onto the open market.
| RECEIVING INSIDE 10 (2016-17) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Att | Rec | Pct | EZ |
| Jarvis Landry | 20 | 17 | 85% | 12 |
| Jordy Nelson | 24 | 18 | 75% | 14 |
| Mohamed Sanu | 17 | 12 | 71% | 9 |
| Michael Thomas | 20 | 14 | 70% | 11 |
| Sterling Shepard | 13 | 9 | 69% | 4 |
| Kyle Rudolph | 22 | 14 | 64% | 8 |
| Cameron Brate | 13 | 8 | 62% | 7 |
| Jack Doyle | 13 | 8 | 62% | 6 |
| Nelson Agholor | 13 | 8 | 62% | 4 |
| Justin Hardy | 12 | 7 | 58% | 7 |
| Seth Roberts | 12 | 7 | 58% | 5 |
| Davante Adams | 19 | 11 | 58% | 9 |
| Brandon LaFell | 14 | 8 | 57% | 5 |
| Doug Baldwin | 14 | 8 | 57% | 6 |
| Zach Ertz | 14 | 8 | 57% | 7 |
| Emmanuel Sanders | 16 | 9 | 56% | 5 |
| T.Y. Hilton | 13 | 7 | 54% | 3 |
| Larry Fitzgerald | 19 | 10 | 53% | 5 |
| Michael Crabtree | 23 | 12 | 52% | 12 |
| A.J. Green | 12 | 6 | 50% | 5 |
| Jimmy Graham | 21 | 10 | 48% | 10 |
| DeAndre Hopkins | 17 | 8 | 47% | 8 |
| Jesse James | 17 | 8 | 47% | 6 |
| Chris Hogan | 13 | 6 | 46% | 3 |
| Rob Gronkowski | 13 | 6 | 46% | 5 |
| Antonio Brown | 22 | 10 | 45% | 9 |
| Demaryius Thomas | 22 | 10 | 45% | 7 |
| Mike Evans | 22 | 10 | 45% | 10 |
| Kelvin Benjamin | 12 | 5 | 42% | 5 |
| Delanie Walker | 15 | 6 | 40% | 6 |
| Julio Jones | 18 | 7 | 39% | 3 |
| Marvin Jones | 17 | 6 | 35% | 5 |
| Jamison Crowder | 12 | 4 | 33% | 2 |
| Dez Bryant | 19 | 6 | 32% | 5 |
| Adam Thielen | 13 | 4 | 31% | 3 |
| Amari Cooper | 18 | 5 | 28% | 5 |
—Ian Allan