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Dolphins Pick up the 5th Year Option on Waddle and Phillips

Originally posted on Dolphins Talk | By Mike Oliva | Last updated 4/29/24

The Miami Dolphins announced today that they have exercised the fifth-year options for Jaylen Waddle and Jaelan Phillips. Both will be entering year 4 of their NFL careers and will now blocked in through the end of the 2025 NFL season.

Miami will be working on long-term extensions for both players between now and the end of the 2025 season to secure both players’ futures in Miami for many years to come. With recent wide receivers like AJ Brown and Devonta Smith getting new deals in Philadelphia in the past two weeks, the money Waddle will be looking for will be around $80 million, guaranteed.

There is no word on the type of contract Phillips is looking at, and the fact that he is rehabbing from a major injury at this time may cause him not to want to sign a new long-term deal now. He and his agent may want to get back on the field, put up some big numbers, and try to cash in at a top-of-the-market rate.

We have exercised the fifth-year options on LB Jaelan Phillips and WR Jaylen Waddle.⁰
Let's get it, @JJPhillips15 & @D1__JW! pic.twitter.com/wkxHZUJxDU

— Miami Dolphins (@MiamiDolphins) April 29, 2024

Both players were selected in the 2021 draft in the first round and have been impact players since entering the NFL. Waddle has 251 receptions for 3,385 yards and 18 touchdowns since entering the league. Phillips has 22 total sacks over his first three seasons in the NFL and was on the verge of an All-Pro season in 2023 before he ruptured his Achilles tendon on Black Friday at MetLife Stadium in a game vs. the NY Jets.

This past offseason, Christian Wilkins left Miami and signed with the Las Vegas Raiders, and that was after his fifth-year option was picked up. He turned down contracts presented to him by the Dolphins organization, bet on himself, and got a contract offer far more than what Miami was willing to pay.

It will be interesting if Waddle and Phillips take a similar approach or if Chris Grier could close the deal and lock up Waddle and Phillips before it gets to that point.

This article first appeared on Dolphins Talk and was syndicated with permission.

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