Dolphins Trade for Isaiah Wilson

Isaiah Wilson may have hit a new level of first round draft bust, getting a return of basically nothing in a trade for the Titans according to Albert Breer.

Wilson had an awful first year with the Titans and basically completely fell out of favor with the organization. Wilson appeared in just one game and played all of 3 snaps for the Titans last year. By the end of the year they moved him to the NFI list and in this offseason Wilson made some posts on social media indicating he wasn’t coming back.

The Titans paid Wilson a $5.97 million signing bonus last year and he still had $4.577 million in future guarantees, though I would think it was likely they could find a way to eventually void those. This trade does get the Titans completely off the hook from any guaranteed salary without having to go through that process which is likely what made the trade happen.

For those couple of snaps the Titans will have paid Wilson $6,547,486. He will leave the Titans with $4.48 million in dead money which will reduce their cap space in 2021 by $1.85 million over what it was with him on the roster.

Miami has no real sunk cost in the trade and will retain all the rights to void the guarantees in the contract if Wilson refuses to show up to work or winds up getting himself suspended by the team. The trade should also transfer all the rights of bonus forfeiture to Miami from Tennessee which would give Miami a path to seek repayment of that $4.48 million if Wilson was to refuse to play or anything like that.

It is more or less a very low risk signing for Miami with $4.577 million in remaining guarantees and a cap charge of just $1.136 million this season. Considering they hold some financial power to void guarantees in the future I think it was a reasonable risk to take for the team.