The NFL deadline for teams to use the franchise or transition tag for the 2025 free agency period has come and gone, and the Miami Dolphins didn't use either.
They weren't alone, though, because in the end only two teams use the franchise tag, the Kansas City Chiefs for guard Trey Smith and the Cincinnati Bengals for wide receiver Tee Higgins.
There really was only one player for whom the Dolphins realistically would have considered using a tag, and that was safety Jevon Holland.
But all along, the feeling was that the Dolphins wouldn't go that route, particularly after head coach Mike McDaniel said at the scouting combine in Indianapolis last week that Holland had earned the right to test the market.
The first step in "testing the market" is the legal negotating period, which begins Monday ahead of the start of the new league year March 12 when teams can start signing free agents from other teams.
Despite McDaniel's comment, the Dolphins technically still could sign Holland to a new contract before next week and keep him from hitting the market, though that seems highly unlikely at this time.
The biggest issue involved in trying to retain Holland is the price tag.
Applying the franchise tag would have guaranteed Holland $18.6 million for 2025, while the transition tag for safeties was worth $15 million.
Cap/contract website Spotrac evaluated Holland's market value at $15.1 million annually, though media projections suggest he could wind up getting as much as $17 million in free agency.
It's not inconceivable that Holland could return to the Dolphins even after hitting the market because it happened just two years ago with linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel, who signed a new one-year contract after first testing the free agent market.
The interest in Holland, though, figures to be much higher.
THE RECENT DOLPHINS SECOND-ROUND PICK HISTORY
If he does leave via free agency, he would become the fifth consecutive Dolphins second-round pick to leave before signing a second contract with the team, and Liam Eichenberg likely will make it six this offseason.
The first four were LB Raekwon McMillan, TE Mike Gesicki, G Robert Hunt and DT Raekwon Davis.
The last Dolphins second-round pick to get a second contract — excluding Gesicki playing on the franchise tag in 2022 — was 2016 draft choice Xavien Howard.
Holland is one of three Dolphins safeties scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent March 12, along with Jordan Poyer and Elijah Campbell.
The only safety under contract for 2025 is 2024 sixth-round pick Patrick McMorris and 2024 practice squad member Jordan Colbert.
