Julius Thomas had a message for his friend and fellow tight end, Jordan Cameron, before the 2016 season. The Dolphins had just hired Adam Gase as their head coach, and Cameron needed to take a pay cut to stay in Miami.
But Thomas said it would be worth it. Cameron told the Palm Beach Post that Thomas said “you have to play for this guy” given Gase’s track record with tight ends, which included Thomas in Denver for 2013-14 before he signed as a free agent with Jacksonville in 2015.
Things didn’t work out for Cameron in 2016 because of concussion-related issues, but now Thomas is heeding his own advice. The Jaguars traded Thomas to the Dolphins for a 2017 seventh-round pick, and the Miami Herald reports Thomas is excited about the trade because he’ll be reunited with Gase.
The trade won’t become official until March 9 when the NFL’s league year begins, but Thomas will restructure his contract to make the deal work. Thomas signed a five-year deal in 2015 with the Jaguars for $46 million, which included $24 million guaranteed.
He had three-years left on the contract with cap hits of $8.3 million in 2017, $9.8 million in 2018 and $10.3 million in 2019, according to the Miami Herald, but Thomas will now have a new deal with incentives to earn back his money. And based on his history with Gase, Thomas must have some optimism that will happen.
Fantasy owners loved Thomas with the Broncos. In 2013, he was the No. 3 tight end in standard leagues with 65 catches for 788 yards and 12 touchdowns on 89 targets. He followed that up in 2014 with 43 catches for 489 yards and 12 touchdowns on 60 targets, and he was the No. 7 tight end.
The Jaguars overpaid for Thomas, and predictably he was a flop. He missed 11 games due to injury in two seasons in Jacksonville, and he had poor production as well with 46 catches for 455 yards and five touchdowns in 2015, and 30 catches for 281 yards and four touchdowns in 2016.
Clearly there was a quarterback downgrade going from Peyton Manning with the Broncos, even in the twilight of his career, to Blake Bortles with the Jaguars. But he also could have struggled without Gase.
And as Thomas pointed out to Cameron, Gase does have a good track record with tight ends. Along with Thomas, Gase also did well with the combination of Martellus Bennett and Zach Miller with the Bears when he was the offensive coordinator in Chicago in 2015.
Bennett had 53 catches for 439 yards and three touchdowns on 80 targets in 11 games, and Miller had 34 catches for 439 yards and five touchdowns on 46 targets. Combined, that duo would have been the No. 7 Fantasy tight end in standard leagues.
In Miami, Gase didn’t have much to work with once Cameron got hurt in Week 3. The Dolphins’ No. 1 tight end was Dion Sims with 26 catches for 256 yards and four touchdowns on 35 targets. But the combination of Sims, Cameron, MarQueis Gray and Dominique Jones had 55 catches for 551 yards and six touchdowns on 73 targets, which would have been good for the No. 10 Fantasy tight end in standard leagues.
The Dolphins can definitely use someone like Thomas, who will be 29 in June, if he can stay healthy. Kenny Stills is likely gone as a free agent, and Miami will have to replace his nine touchdowns from 2016. Jarvis Landry is the No. 1 receiver, but he has 13 career touchdowns in three years. And DeVante Parker is still trying to prove himself and has only has seven touchdowns in two seasons.
Thomas won’t score 12 touchdowns a year with Miami like he did with Denver. Ryan Tannehill, who is coming off a significant knee injury, isn’t Manning, and this Dolphins offense won’t be as explosive as what Gase had with the Broncos.
But this move should be viewed as a positive for Thomas, and it should be beneficial for Fantasy owners. We now have another tight end to target with a late-round pick, and he’s back in the conversation as a streaming option to open the season.
If you don’t have unrealistic expectations for Thomas, he could be useful in 2017. The hope is a reunion with Gase can turn Thomas’ career around, and maybe he can earn back some of that money he lost with this trade to Miami.