Wilkins on the Way Out?

The 2019 first-round pick was a candidate for the franchise tag

So apparently the Miami Dolphins repeating that Christian Wilkins had "earned the right" to be a free agent was a sign after all.

Reports out of Indianapolis on Sunday morning, the first from Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, suggest the Dolphins will not be using the franchise tag on the 2019 first-round pick and indeed will let him test the free agent market.

The deadline for team to apply the franchise or transition tag is Tuesday, March 5.

Of course, not applying the tag doesn't preclude the Dolphins from re-signing him at some point, and the Dolphins will have exclusive negotiating rights until March 11  when teams are allowed to start negotiating with free agents from other teams.

Applying the franchise tag would commit the Dolphins to a $22 million salary for Wilkins in 2024, along with a cap hit of the same number. The Dolphins still need to shed cap space before the start of the league year March 13, standing some $31 million over in cap space, according to overthecap.com.

Wilkins' market value, according to spotrac, was placed at $20.2 million annually.

GM CHRIS GRIER'S OFFICIAL COMMENTS ON WILKINS

General Manager Chris Grier addressed Wilkins' situation with the South Florida media contingent on hand at the scouting combine in Indianapolis, indicating he was scheduled to meet later in the week with Wilkins' agent, David Mulugheta.

The two sides talked last summer as well but failed to come to an agreement on a long-term extension, which led to Wilkins playing on his fifth-year option after he conducted a "hold-in" during training camp where he didn't take part in team periods in practice or play in preseason games.

"I think all options are on the table for us," Grier said. "Dave and I have always had good conversations, but I'm just being very transparent with it. I mean, he has earned it. He's had a great season. And so we'll see what happens here as we talk here over the next couple of weeks."

In his joint press conference with head coach Mike McDaniel after the end of the season, Grier said Wilkins and center Connor Williams "earned the right to be free agents."

That was similar to what McDaniel said about Wilkins during his press conference at the combine. While he said he would love to have Wilkins back, McDaniel also made it a point to include this sentence: "I’m excited for Christian’s opportunity that he’s earned."

WILKINS A FOUNDATIONAL PIECE FOR DOLPHINS

Wilkins is a foundational piece for the Dolphins, a tone-setter on defense and a leader, and also was the team's first draft pick when they started their massive rebuilding project in 2019.

He has emerged over the years as a top-end defensive tackle, adding a pass-rushing element to his game last season when he produced a career-high nine sacks. Wilkins had a strip sack/fumble forced/fumble recovery against the Buffalo Bills in the regular season finale as his highlight play of the season.

Wilkins led all NFL interior defensive linemen in tackles in 2022 with 98, setting a record for the position that was broken this past season by the Carolina Panthers' Derrick Brown.

Losing him would leave a huge void in the middle of the Dolphins defensive line, and leave Zach Sieler and Brandon Pili as the only defensive tackles on the roster.

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