Yesterday I shared the unofficial list of Dolphins free agents and what their status with the Dolphins is for the coming season. What I said about Paul Soliai is that I have doubts he'll return to the team.
Now we hear that his agent David Canter also has doubts he'll be on the team in 2012.
Canter was on my radio show, Armando and Perkins on 640-sports (640-AM in South Florida) and painted a great picture for Soliai. But that picture does not necessarily include Soliai in a Miami uniform.
"The future looks fantastic for him," Canter said. "Whether that future ends up being here, that's obviously not up to me. It's never been up to me. And I've never felt like the Dolphins have made a very fair push to try to get a multi-year deal done. And I wouldn't anticipate them doing so now with the rumors that they're going to be moving to a 4-3/3-4 hybrid. The reality of it is Paul can play in any defense, but the question is if the Dolphins are gearing up to go try to get Peyton Manning when he gets released ... and whether they're going to try to do some other things in free agency and whether the dollars equate.
"I've had good conversations with [Dolphins general manager] Jeff [Ireland] in the past. We have a very good relationship. I now represent a coach on the staff and it's always been very friendly and cordial. But I also think at some point in time, teams say, 'Hey, we've got to move in a different direction and we've got to go spend our resources somewhere else.' and I imagine that's what's going to happen with the Dolphins since I've had no communications with them regarding contract proposals or extensions or even minimal discussions about the future, as of today. But with that said there's still a lot of time left. We could get a deal done with Paul Soliai in 15 minutes if the Dolphins were willing to go where we're willing to go to get it done."
Let me think for a moment ...
The club and Canter have been trying to figure out a multi-year contract for Soliai since 2010. And they haven't been able to get it done in those 16 months or so. And the sides are suddenly going to get a deal done in 15 minutes because one side -- ostensibly Miami -- is going to completely cave?
I love Canter. He is truly an optimist. But is also a very good bulldog agent. So I asked him, gun to his head, if Soliai is back in 2012 or not.
"No," he said. "You don't need to put a gun to my head. But listen it's not the kind of thing that can't rapidly change. I was all doom and gloom last year at this time that we wouldn't be able to get a multi-year deal done and I still feel that way that a multi-year extension is not something the Dolphins ever really wanted to do ... But it's a very easy deal to do. They know where I am. They know where my numbers are ..."
Check out the full Canter interview below (Scroll to the middle portion of the hour because he had Florida Panthers defenseman Brian Campbell early in the hour). And listen for the offer Canter made to Soliai so that he would not play in the Pro Bowl, a game in which Soliai risked his future payday for a chance to play:
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