WR Landry sent to Browns
DAVIE — The Miami Dolphins have agreed to trade wide receiver Jarvis Landry to the Cleveland Browns, according to a NFL source.
Terms, according to reports, are the Dolphins’ receiving two draft picks — a fourth-rounder in 2018 and a seventh-rounder in 2019 — from the Browns.
Trades can’t be official until March 14, the first day of the new league year.
Landry, speaking at a charity event he hosted Friday night to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, seemed happy with the trade.
“I’m excited about the next chapter of my life,” said Landry, a three-time Pro Bowl selection.
“Most of all I’m excited about tonight and creating this moment and these memories. This is a helluva last memory right here. Tonight is a helluva last memory.”
Landry said he wasn’t active in the trade process that landed him with the Browns other than “going through the whole process going back and forth with my agent [and] it just kind of worked out that way.”
Landry said the process of the franchise tag and the trade was difficult.
“I’ve had great people in my corner — my entire family, a couple of mentors of mine and just walking through the whole process just trying to enjoy it,” he said.
“As stressful as it may seem, I tried to enjoy it, and I’m happy, I’m happy. I can live with what’s happened because I know that I gave my all all the time.”
Landry also said he enjoyed the process.
“Yeah, I did,” he said. “You think about it in a sense, too, once I played my four years a lot of the things are out of my control. So the four years that I did have the opportunity to play for the Miami Dolphins I left it all there and I don’t have any regrets about that.”
Landry signed his franchise-tag tender for an estimated $15.9 million earlier this week, which cleared the way for a trade.
It’s assumed Cleveland will work out a multi-year contract with Landry.
The Dolphins gave Landry the non-exclusive franchise tag on Feb. 20, the first day they were allowed to do so.
Landry, a 2014 secondround pick, has 400 receptions for 4,038 yards and 22 touchdowns.
Last season he established a franchise record with 112 receptions, which also led the NFL, and 987 yards and a career-best 10 touchdowns.
With Landry off the books the Dolphins get some relief toward the projected 2018 salary cap of $177.2 million.
Miami is believed to be about $19 million over the cap. Teams must be at the cap by 4 p.m. Wednesday, the start of the league year.
Landry’s apparent departure depletes Miami’s receiving crew greatly, leaving the bulk of the work, for now, to wide receivers Kenny Stills and DeVante Parker.
Miami also has wide receivers Jakeem Grant and Leonte Carroo, among others. Tight end MarQueis Gray is the top tight end on the roster. Running back Kenyan Drake is also an adept receiver out of the backfield.
It’s unclear whether Miami would attempt to make up for Landry’s absence with a free-agent wide receiver, a draftee or possibly a tight end.
ESPN reports Landry and the Browns are working on a new contract, presumably a multi-year deal that is more salary capfriendly for the Browns and offers Landry more longterm financial security.
Tampa Bay reportedly agreed to terms with wide receiver Mike Evans on a five-year, $82 million contract with $55 million in guarantees.
Landry’s agent said earlier in the offseason his client wanted money similar to Green Bay’s Davante Adams (four years, $58 million), which featured $18 million guaranteed and $32 million in the first two years.