As anticipated, the Miami Dolphins have exercised Christian Wilkins’ fifth-year option on his contract.
This year, a small number of teams have exercised the fifth-year option on the contracts of first-round picks for 2019, and the Miami Dolphins were one of them on Thursday.
The Dolphins have exercised the fifth-year option on defensive tackle Christian Wilkins’ contract, which should have been expected given that general manager Chris Grier made it clear last month that they intended to do so.
Although nothing prevents the Dolphins from signing Wilkins to an extension before 2023, the transaction gives Wilkins a salary of slightly under $10.8 million for that campaign.
The Dolphins are confident that the 26-year-old Wilkins can continue his stellar play from 2021 this season, which is why they decided to keep defensive coordinator Josh Boyer and the majority of his assistants, in addition to re-signing a number of free agents and pending free agents on that side of the ball.
Wilkins began every game for the Dolphins in 2021 for the first time in his NFL career, setting career highs in tackles (89), sacks (4.5), tackles for loss (10), and quarterback hits (13).
In the end, Wilkins participated in 65.2 percent of the defensive snaps, which was the second-highest proportion among the Dolphins defensive lineman. Only Emmanuel Ogbah played in 67.1 percent of the defensive snaps.
How Much Does Christian Wilkins Make?
Christian Wilkins has an average annual salary of $3,859,775. Wilkins’ base salary in 2022 will be $2,600,332, and his cap hit will be $4,912,441.