The negotiating strategy of Dolphins wide receiver Jarvis Landry starts with this idea: Landry, a three-time Pro Bowl selection who averages roughly 100 receptions, 1,000 yards and five touchdowns a season, wants to be paid as a No. 1 wide receiver.

"With all this, 'What type of receiver is he – slot or outside?' – or all this, he's a No. 1 receiver," said Damarius Bilbo, Landry's agent. "He's a No. 1 receiver.

"No matter what you classify him as, or how you use him in that offense, he's a No.1 receiver. ...So at the end of the day Jarvis understands his value and he wants to be compensated as such."

Along with that, Landry, who is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent in March, regards his value to the Dolphins in the same neighborhood as Atlanta wide receiver Julio Jones' value to the Falcons, or Pittsburgh wide receiver Antonio Brown's value to the Steelers.

"Everybody has a superstar receiver," Bilbo said. "Superstars are meant to reset the market. ...His value to his team is just as important as Julio's. Take him away from the offense and see what you're left with. And you question it. You take Antonio Brown from the Steelers. Could JuJu (Smith-Schuster) fill in? Could Martavis ((Bryant) fill in?"

"Do they have another player here?" Bilbo asked in regard to the Dolphins. "That is a big part of the negotiation, too. What does the team look like without that guy there?"

For the record, Brown averages $17 million a year while Jones averages $14.2 million a year. Last season Brown averaged 15.2 yards per reception with nine touchdowns while Jones averaged 16.4 yards per reception with three touchdowns.

The biggest knock on Landry, who averaged a career-low 8.8 yards per reception but had a career-best nine touchdowns, is he's a slot receiver who doesn't stretch the field.

Bilbo, who was a starting wide receiver at Georgia Tech alongside Calvin "Megatron" Johnson, said Landry is only limited by his surroundings.

"The best thing about his production is he's a guy who's done a lot with a little," Bilbo said. "Like people want to talk about (Green Bay wide receiver) Davante Adams. He played with (quarterback) Aaron Rodgers. You talk about Julio Jones. He played with (quarterback) Matt Ryan. Antonio Brown, he played with (Pittsburgh quarterback) Ben Roethlisberger.

"I'm a former quarterback. I played quarterback in college and was a national Player of the Year when I came out of high school at quarterback. I know that's an extremely tough position, so in no way am I throwing any shots at anybody on Miami's roster.

"But at the end of the day, Jarvis has done a lot with a little when you talk about the route tree he runs. Jarvis is not running downfield, and he is not running the 15-, 20-yard routes."

Bilbo also said Landry has tremendous value to the Dolphins because of the team's alternatives.

"Everyone has their negatives," Bilbo said, "but Jarvis Landry, he's done a lot with a little. He doesn't get the big targets down field. But the guy went over 4,000 yards and 400 catches (for his career) because he was a key piece of that offense.

"And understanding negotiations – the team is trying to bring (a player's) value down, the agents are trying to bring their value up – at the end of the day the proof is in the pudding. You don't have a lot of options."

Bilbo said Landry, who led the NFL in receptions with 112 last season, a total that also established a franchise record, felt disrespected by a recent article that portrayed him as less than a team player or team leader.

"I think the disrespect," Bilbo said, speaking for Landry, "was moreso, 'Hey, you could have called me or you could have communicated with my representation if, in fact, these are the things you guys have been feeling about me, and not try to harm me or my value to other teams around the league because you guys may not want to pay me $15 or $16 million a year and you think you can get me here cheap.

" 'What you're doing is you're really making me not even want to play for you guys, and not even want to give everything that I've been giving in terms of my body and my blood, sweat and tears.' "

Bilbo said Landry isn't offended and suspects the Dolphins might simply be using a negotiating ploy.

"It's one of those, 'Let's smooth the fans over, and let's smooth the city over if we don't keep our superstar, let's make this justifiable,' " Bilbo said. "Because if he moves, all the fans are going to say, 'He's a diva. We didn't want him here anyway. He wasn't a leader. He cost us too many penalties.'

"Seriously? In a Buffalo game I'm very sure the game was over."

That's a reference to Landry being ejected from the finale against Buffalo after his goalline outburst with the Dolphins trailing 22-9 with 6:16 remaining.

Bilbo seemed to say, however, no permanent damage has been done. He said Landry still wants to be a Dolphin.

"I know this is part of the process," he said. "There's no blueprint for these kinds of things. They can call tomorrow and offer an amazing deal, and Jarvis is a Dolphin for the next four or five years.

"But they can also let the clock tick down to those dates in which they have to place a tag on him and let him go there. Our lines are always open. The great thing about Jarvis Landry, he takes offense to absolutely nothing."

Bilbo also expressed a measure of appreciation toward the Dolphins' brain trust of executive Mike Tannenbaum, general manager Chris Grier and coach Adam Gase.

"I respect and appreciate their openness," he said. "And Mike has always been open about wanting to keep Jarvis there and wanting to get this thing done. It's been a situation where I was thrown off when I saw the comments (in the article). It was quite funny at first because it was something I've never heard before. Not to this extent. I've heard, 'Hey, man, we want him to be a better leader.' Obviously he's a guy that leads by example. He's always practicing hurt.

" 'We want him to grab some of these younger guys and come watch some film.' And Jarvis has attempted that. But again, what people always forget about being a leader is people have got to want to be led. You can't make a grown man go watch film or go put in extra reps when they don't want to. So that's another thing that people forget in terms of leadership.

"So we're excited. We're excited to see what's going to happen."