Cameron Wake misses Dolphins 1st offseason workout, wants new contract

Apr. 10 News and Notes 6 comments ---Bill

On Tuesday, the Miami Dolphins held their first offseason conditioning workout.  This is the Dolphins first organized team activity since the 2011 season ended and the first activity under new coach, Joe Philbin.  It’s officially a new era in Miami with a new coaching staff that is eager to get to work making the Dolphins a better team.  Excitement and hope are in the air.  However, one notable Dolphins player was absent from the team’s first day of offseason conditioning, which of course is the most newsworthy happening of the day.

Cameron Wake, who happens to be the Dolphins best defensive player, did not attend the team’s first offseason workout.  As Armando Salguero said on Twitter, Wake was a no-show “as a form of protest that a contract extension is not close to done.”  Great, more good publicity for the Dolphins front office.  Wake is scheduled to make a salary of $650,000 in 2012, which would be a bargain for the Dolphins.  He would also be the 31st highest paid Dolphins player…..After watching Mario Williams land a HUGE contract from the Bills, Wake knows he’s worth more than 10 times the salary he’ll be paid in 2012.

You can certainly understand Wake’s protest.  If you were getting paid less than 1/10 of what your colleagues were making (for doing as good, if not better work), wouldnt’ you be pissed?  For comparison of just how good Cameron Wake was last year, check out this stat from the NFL.com article:

“…last year he (Wake) had an aggregate of 90 sacks, QB hits, QB pressures, and holding penalties drawn, according to ProFootballFocuss — by far most in the NFL. (Chicago Bears defensive end Julius Peppers, who makes $14 million a season, was second in the NFL, with a total of 74 such plays).”

Look, it’s only one offseason workout that Cameron missed.  I’m not overly concerned at this point.  However, if he starts missing training camp practices, THEN there’s a problem. The Dolphins currently have about $6.4 million in cap room and could create more by extending/restructuring Jake Long’s contract that is set to expire after 2012.  If Wake does not agree to an extension with the Dolphins, he will become a free agent after the 2012 season.  The Dolphins could use their franchise tag on Wake, but that might just make the situation worse.  It will be interesting to see what happens with the negotiations, but at this point, it doesn’t appear that the Dolphins and Wake are anywhere near having a done deal.

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  • wynn

    Ireland will let Wake know who runs this show. He will trade him to the Pat for a 7 th pick.Go ahead Ireland show Wake how smart you are.

  • ohiodolfan

    I dont give a crap if he led the NFL in sacks every year he was in the NFL. You failed out your first go around, played around in the CFL for years running over scrubs, come to the NFL and do very well. Gratz for doing what you said you would do and yay for miami giving you the chance. Now you agreed for the amount your making, so hold up your end and play and stop acting like a little girl. i expect this crap from a mario williams, a mathis, but not Wake…..He is a great player, but now he is just another one of “them”

  • CA_DolFan

    Wow Wynn… Show’s how smart you are… Dolphins only have $6.4 mil in cap space to sign their draft picks. With 1 pick per round, $5 Mil is safe to keep open, but we have 2 in the third so we may need that extra million for that extra 3 rd round pick.

    They will wait till after the draft to extend his contract. They need to find out what their final cap space is after the draft AND if Jake Long restructures his contract, THEN we will re-sign Wake with the extra Cap space and to create extra cap space for the extra acorns they may want to pick-up after the 53-man roster cut down.

    Wake is doing the right thing by holding out during OTA’s. He knows he’ll get a deal done, he’s just making a point that he wants to a new deal at a fair price. Ireland needs to manuever and make some moves to get him signed to a long-term deal. He is still under a contact that he agreed to and signed, so he’ll play this year. Holding out while you are under contract to get your raise in my opinion is stupid when players do that. You signed a contract 3-4 years ago that you thought was fair, then your play exceeds that so a player holds out because he isn’t getting paid enough… I think that is stupid, you signed a contract to play with the money you had agreed to, now you need to play out your contract and we’ll discuss about getting you that raise during the season or at the end.

    He’ll be beast the first 6 weeks of the season and by then we should have the cap space to sign him to an extension. Wake is a beast, but for a 30yr old DE/OLB to sign a 4-5yr deal worth $14 Mil a season… Fair value to me for his age is about $6-9 million per season, which the Dolphins don’t have the cap room for that salary this year.

    WIN, LOOSE, OR TIE… DOLPHINS TILL’ I DIE!!! (since 1980)

  • newengfinfan

    Love how folks in football can what they want. I wonder what would of happened to me, while I was in the service if I decided not to go defend my country in hopes for a new contract. What a joke, guys like this should be banned from the league.

  • adj1198

    Why is it that players are wrong for holding out during their last year of contract? But management can cut players in the last year of a contract and nobody wants to ban the management. Case in point Y. Bell…Sure some people are pissed, but not due to unfair contract practices by management. Dolphins management signed a contract to pay Y. Bell for a specified time, yet instead of paying him, they cut him. Remember why some Dolphins fans were looking to get Peyton Manning? It was due to the Colts not wanting to “honor” their contract with him. Most sports contracts make provisions for both players and management to maintain their best interests. It must be understood that the bottom line to this is money and that’s not just on the player’s side.

  • phinfan4sure

    That’s a damn good point Adj1198! Colts management wasn’t chastised for their decision, it was deemed smart business. Its a two way street. No one is making management out to be the villain only the players trying to get what’s best for them and their family seem to be money hungry prima Donna’s.

    I do think his contract shouldn’t be over 10mil a seasin due to his age but he is entitled to a new and more lucrative contract.