Jordan Cameron Signs with Dolphins After Reportedly Re-Signing with Browns

It appeared as if the Cleveland Browns had re-signed Pro Bowl tight end Jordan Cameron.

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported it was a two-year deal worth $15 million.

Alas, the seemingly cursed Browns franchise couldn't hold on to one of the few drafted in-house players who have panned out amid years of instability.

Later in the day, Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports tweeted that it was the Miami Dolphins who were going to sign Cameron and then later confirmed that he signed with Miami:

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The Dolphins' official Twitter account confirmed that Cameron would indeed be the next major Cleveland professional athlete to head to South Beach:

Schefter reported that the deal will be worth $15M over two years, just like the reported Browns offer. 

One of the first people Cameron mentioned after signing the deal was Dolphins QB Ryan Tannehill, per Andrew Abramson of the Palm Beach Post: "They were singing his praises all day today. It's deifnitely a big part of my decision."

Cameron was a fourth-round draft pick in 2011, so his rookie deal wasn't lucrative enough to match up with his value as an athletic, pass-catching tight end. The 2013 season was when Cameron took big strides, overcoming a turbulent quarterback situation that featured three different starters to snag 80 receptions for 917 yards and seven touchdowns.

After not quite matching that production this past year due to injuries and more QB instability, Cameron was still open to returning, telling ClevelandBrowns.com's Andrew Gribble on December 31:

"

It'd be cool to finish here. I started here. There's a lot of factors that go into it and I haven't given it thought. I've been focused solely on the games being played. Now it's time to think about it and I'll sit down with my agent, but right now it's up in the air and there's a lot of stuff that has to go into me coming back here.

"

Cameron still has obvious upside to explore with his natural athleticism and size (6'5", 245 lbs), both of which make him such a friendly target down the seam and in the red zone.

Three concussions in less than a two-year span is probably part of the reason Cameron didn't garner a bigger contract in Miami. If he can stay healthy, though, the Dolphins may have gotten a huge bargain.

The short-term deal is of little overall consequence, because the Dolphins are gearing up to win immediately, evident in their landing of the most prized free agent in Ndamukong Suh. Cameron mentioned Suh just after signing his deal, per the Dolphins' Twitter account:

Miami needs to make the playoffs soon in order for Tannehill to have security as the future quarterback and for head coach Joe Philbin to remain at the helm.

Andrew Abramson of the Palm Beach Post reports Miami is still trying to lock down incumbent starting TE Charles Clay. Having both would be huge for Tannehill, but he needs some more dependable wide receivers, which the Dolphins should prioritize more through the draft than they did prior to the start of the league year.

The Browns' failure to retain Cameron doesn't come as much of a surprise. They refused to re-up star free safety Tashaun Gipson right away and opted not to slap a modest-cost franchise tag on Cameron to keep him for at least another year.

A price tag of $8.347 million would have justified keeping Cameron around given the Browns' dearth of sizable, explosive wideouts. It's less than $1 million per season more than the offer Schefter reported.

Cameron may not have wanted to stay in Cleveland with such a perpetually bad QB depth chart, but the Browns had the cap space to pay him a lot of money to persuade him.

Without the uniquely gifted Cameron to turn to in the passing game, whoever's under center in Cleveland in 2015 will have an even more difficult time producing. That is, unless Browns general manager Ray Farmer adds a playmaker or several through the draft and the remainder of free agency—beyond previously released Dolphins receiver Brian Hartline.