Rosenhaus: Wallace is Team's "Trickiest" Issue; Guys Like Hartline "Hard to Find"
Drew Rosenhaus, one of the most prominent agents in the National Football League, joined Joe Rose on WQAM this morning to discuss the Miami Dolphins' offseason issues and what could be in store for the team's finely paid receiving duo of Mike Wallace and Brian Hartline.
Rosenhaus calls the Wallace situation "the trickiest issue" of their offseason. Via CBS Sports, the speedy receiver carries a $12.1 million hit against the cap in 2015, and on March 14, $3 million of his 2015 salary becomes guaranteed. The Dolphins could create $5.5 million in cap room and take a $6.6-million cap hit by releasing Wallace.
"The Dolphins have made a major investment in Mike Wallace and he is a very good player," Rosenhaus said. "Unfortunately, Mike Wallace and the coaching staff have not always seen eye to eye. It seems like a lot of disjoined interaction and Joe Philbin is not a big fan of that. He has gone to great lengths to basically rid this team of any player that doesn't have good chemistry and I think it's safe to say Mike Wallace hasn't had good chemistry with this coaching staff."
That said, Rosenhaus feels Wallace still has value to the team but it will ultimately be up to Miami's restructured front office to come to a conclusion whether to keep him as is, trade him, cut him or try to restructure his contract.
"He's still one of their top receivers. He led the team in receiving touchdowns. He's one of the top deep threats still; unfortunately he's is a deep-threat guy and he and Ryan Tannehill have never gotten on the same page. Joe, this is a really challenging situation and this is one of the reasons the Dolphins hired Mike Tannenbaum."
Joe then asked Drew whether he and the team have had discussions regarding Hartline's contract (Hartline is a Rosenhaus client), with the Dolphins potentially looking to restructure it this offseason. He would cost the team $7.35 million in cap space next season coming off a year in which he had just 39 receptions amid 63 targets.
"We have not had any conversations yet with the Dolphins about Brian," Rosenhaus said. "And when we do, I may or may not be able to talk about it, but what I will say is Brian, objectively speaking, is as rock-solid of a player on and off the field as you're going to find.
"Brian really unfortunately was not used as much as he had the previous two seasons when he put together back-to-back 1,000-yard years. He's proven that he can be a 1,000-yard receiver in this league. He's proven that he can be incredibly reliable. He's proven that he can be a solid citizen in the locker room, outside, and in the community... Hard to find guys like that."