When the 2021 free agency window opened and the Dolphins were quiet on the wide receiver front, many fans begun to express some anxiety on the Dolphins’ ability to fill out their needs effectively and avoid coming up empty handed at the position. With the Dolphins desperately in need of more separation at the position, adding more talent to the room was paramount — and yet there was plenty of wide receiver movement early in the process that did not include the Dolphins.
But when the Dolphins did strike, they revealed why they were quiet early on — they were busy ironing out a great value for the team but a competitive offer to one of the most physically talented receivers in the market: Houston’s Will Fuller.
Fuller would sign a 1-year deal with the Dolphins worth $10.625M in fully guaranteed money — although Fuller must forfeit some $625k of that salary on account of being suspended for Week 1 as a part of a failed drug test in 2020. Fuller can ultimately earn that money back (and then some) based on a slew of performance bonuses written into his contract — he’s got a total of $3M in stipulated money on the table based on how well he performs for the Dolphins this season.
But regardless of the bonus payout at the end of the year, Pro Football Focus is ready to call Fuller’s contract one of the best values in the game this season. In a ranking of the top-32 best contracts in the NFL, Fuller’s one-year deal checked in at No. 15 overall.
The only better valued contracts at the wide receiver position, according to PFF, are Buffalo’s Stefon Diggs (No. 1 overall), Green Bay’s Davante Adams (No. 4 overall) and Tampa Bay’s Mike Evans (No. 14 overall). Contrast that value to what the Giants paid Kenny Golladay ($18M per season), the Jets paid Corey Davis ($12.5M per season) and the Patriots paid Nelson Agholor ($11M per season)? Sometimes the wait is worth it. And for the Dolphins’ 2021 wide receiver room, that is especially true when surveying the value they’re getting in Fuller versus the payouts across the rest of the landscape.