When the Miami Dolphins selected DeVante Parker with the No. 14 pick of the 2015 NFL Draft, it was the cherry on top of an offseason overhaul of the receivers available to quarterback Ryan Tannehill. The team signed tight end Jordan Cameron and wide receiver Greg Jennings in free agency, and acquired Kenny Stills in a trade with the New Orleans Saints.
The Dolphins could have had Andre Johnson, took Greg Jennings instead
Andre Johnson always dreamed of playing for the Dolphins, but never got a phone call from the team when he hit free agency.
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One player that the team didn’t choose to pursue during its busy offseason, however, was seven-time Pro Bowler Andre Johnson.
Johnson signed a three-year, $21 million with the Indianapolis Colts before the Dolphins signed Cameron, Jennings or Stills, but never even received a call from Miami. Johnson is a member of the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame after a productive career with the Hurricanes and was an All-American at Miami Senior High School. He told Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald that things could’ve been different if the Dolphins called.
Playing for the Dolphins “was something I thought about,” Johnson told me at the recent UM Hall of Fame fishing tournament in Islamorada. “I always had a dream of playing at home. I was a huge Dolphins fan. But they never called.”
Overhauling the position with youth like Cameron, Stills and Parker to work with Tannehill was the team’s top priority, but the addition of Jennings showed the Dolphins weren’t opposed to veterans. At 33, Johnson’s best days are likely in the rearview mirror, but the same could be said for 31-year-old Jennings, who hasn’t eclipsed 1,000 yards receiving since 2010.
Who is the better player? Probably Johnson.
He racked up huge numbers in his 12 years with the Houston Texans, tallying more than 1,000 receptions. Even in a down year in 2014, his 936 yards eclipse any mark set by Jennings since 2011.
The big difference between the two receivers may have been the price tags. The Dolphins signed Jennings to a two-year, $8 million deal that will count $2.5 million against the team’s cap in 2015, while Johnson will take up $7.5 million of cap space for the Colts.
Miami has the cap space to eat that extra $5 million, but after an already expensive offseason that included the pricey signing of Ndamukong Suh, discount shopping for a veteran makes sense.
Finding a veteran to contribute wasn’t a must for the Dolphins. Jarvis Landry is already a promising young receiver who was productive as a rookie, and the younger acquisitions give Tannehill plenty of new targets to work with. A veteran with Pro Bowls in his past should be able to help the younger receivers, but $7.5 million of cap space is a little too much for that role when Jennings is available to do it for a third of the cost.
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