Unless you have been living under a rock, every football gambling fan has heard about the record setting contract where the Miami Dolphins will be paying Ndamukong Suh $114 million dollars over 6 years, which will be the highest contract paid to a defensive football player ever in the NFL. In addition Suh will also be getting $60 million guaranteed, which is the most by any defensive player as well. With this one move and signature of the pen by the Dolphins and Suh, they have raised the bar for the rest of the NFL and players.
At the end of the day the NFL is a business and business has been going extremely well for the owners, which means that the players will be cashing in as well. The 2015 salary cap is set at $143.28 million per team. This was is a lot larger figure then the $128.3 million that was predicted to be the 2015 cap number back in October of 2014. Now experts are predicting that the 2016 cap number could go as high as $160 million per team. In a nut shell this shows that the NFL is making money hand over fist and their cash cow has much more potential to grow. This also means that owners that are willing to pay for top-tier talent will get the chance to throw around money, because player contracts are only going to get higher entering each new free-agent season.
The Dolphins could presumably be the first team to ever have two players that each have a contract worth over $100 million. Before free-agency began, followers of phinsnews.com read that the Dolphins were very happy with Ryan Tannehill and are strongly considering signing him to a long term contract this off-season, so they do not have to worry about the 2016 5th year option on the contract, which would cost the Dolphins around $15 million next year. However, if Miami does decide to hammer out a long term contract this off-season with Tannehill, then the going rate for his services is going to be just over $100 million. With Cutler, and Kaepernick recently singing $100+ million dollar contracts and Dalton signing a $96 million dollar contract, and Tannehill being statistically better then all 3 it will only be reasonable that his contract will be over $100 million as well.
If Miami does not continue to be aggressive in free-agency, then they may decide to use the rest of their cap room to lock down Tannehill long term, which is not a bad idea. Not only would that then give Miami a $100 million dollar player on offense and defense, but it would also set the bar for the rest of the NFL to follow. Obviously QB contracts are going up astronomically, but with Suh’s record setting deal, defensive players’ contracts will also be on the rise. This is the type of trend where it will be more beneficial for the teams that pay big now than for the teams to wait until the future, when the cost will be much higher. Every other team in the league is going to have to file suit, if they want the best talent in the league, which means they will have to shell out a lot more cash, for all positions. Any teams that have owners that are stingy are going to be at a clear disadvantage in acquiring new free agents. Also any teams that have young QB’s that are still on rookie contracts are going to have to pay a lot of money if they would like to keep them long term.
As much as some phins fans may not like Ross or think he is not a good owner for the Dolphins, at least no one can complain that Ross is cheap and not willing to spend money. He has shown countless times that he is not afraid to spend big money, and big guaranteed money. With his latest record setting signing of Suh, he has raised the bar for all owners and players, and if he decides to sign Tannehill long time, he will be doing it again, and in a league where that is going to become more of the standard, then it is a good thing the phins are the first ones on this upward curve. Lastly do not think that players are unaware that Ross and the Dolphins like to spend money, which means they will be attracted to playing in Miami, and also a low state income tax helps as well. Money talks and bullshit walks.