After skipping most of "Phase One" of the Miami Dolphins voluntary workout program, linebacker Cameron Wake joined his teammates on Thursday, Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald reports.
Wake is in the
final year of his four-year, $2.695 million contract and is looking for an extension that would boost his 2012 compensation that consists of the
league minimum base salary of $615,000 and a $50,000 workout bonus.
"Cameron felt like he had to go in to speak with Joe Philbin face to
face, man to man, out of respect to him as a new coach," Paul Sheehy, Wake's agent, said. "They spoke, and Cameron decided to work
with his teammates during this voluntary period, while I work on the
business side of things with the Dolphins."
In his three seasons with the Dolphins, Wake has started 31 of 46 games and totaled 122 tackles, 28 sacks and four forced fumbles with eight passes defensed. Beyond those traditional stats, Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders noted earlier this week that Wake drew a league-high 13 holding penalties in 2011, including eight on passing plays. No other defender drew more than seven total holding penalties last season.
The deals for Robert Mathis and Trent Cole are two recent contracts that may determine the talking points between Sheehy and Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland. Cole, who is a year younger than Wake, signed a four-year, $48.525 million extension with the Philadelphia Eagles in March. (A breakdown of that deal can be found right here.) Mathis is a year older than Wake and was eligible for free agency when he signed a four-year, $36 million contract with the Indianapolis Colts on March 23.
So that is likely the window in which the two sides are negotiations. Miami is certainly looking for something closer, if not below, the $9 million per year Mathis received, while Wake's camp is wants to break the eight-figure mark and is pushing for closer to the $12 million per year figure. The Dolphins currently do not have much salary cap room -- around $6.33 million as of earlier this week -- so Wake's extension will likely have to wait until the Dolphins address Jake Long's contract and possibly restructure Karlos Dansby's deal. Those two contracts are currently taking up over 18 percent ($24.125 million) of the Dolphins' adjusted cap number of $130.506 million in 2012.
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