The Miami Dolphins aren’t letting an important piece of their defense leave town without having a say in it.

The Dolphins placed a right-of-first-refusal tender on restricted free agent CB Kader Kohou on Saturday, four days ahead of the official start of free agency.

Kohou was a 2022 undrafted free agent signing with the team out of Texas A&M Commerce.  He made a quick impact with the team, appearing in 15 games with 13 starts as a rookie.  Over his three year career, he’s appeared in 47 games with 38 starts as the Dolphins’ primary nickel cornerback.

Because Kohou doesn’t have four accrued years – he has three – he is not an unrestricted free agent, meaning the Dolphins can prevent him from leaving by placing a tender on him.

By placing the right-of-first-refusal tag, that means, obviously, that the Dolphins have the right to match any contract offer made in free agency.  If he doesn’t receive an offer, then the Dolphins are obligated to pay him the tender amount in 2025 of $3.263 million, per OverTheCap.

The move was a very logical one, as they set themselves up to retain an important player in a positional area where they’ve suffered significant losses.  CB Kendall Fuller was released earlier this offseason, S Jordan Poyer is a free agent (and who wouldn’t be back anyways after a very disappointing 2024 season), and S Jevon Holland is likely heading elsewhere in free agency.

We’ll see next week if someone tries to land the Dolphins’ starting nickel – and if Miami will have to pony up a bit to keep him.