The Dolphins have a very interesting off-season ahead with them. Already over the salary cap and up the “yin-yang” with holes on the roster, many sports gambling fans are betting the Dolphins are going to have a tough time keeping talent and acquiring new talent. Added to all this mess, the vital free agents that the Dolphins have to resign very well might be looking for greener pastures, but Miami has a pair of aces in their hands, the ability to restructure contracts or part ways with some of their under-performing players.
For starters Miami definitely can part ways with Greg Jennings, past his prime and with better wide receivers on the team, his 3.5 million cut of the cap makes his him expendable. Then there’s the curious case of Dion Jordan, suspended twice already and with a 2016 contract that’s a $6.2 million cap hit, his cut would save 3.2 mill, so he is expendable as well. Brent Grimes and Mika count for 9.5 in 2016 and a cut from both of them would give 6.5 million in free money as well as cutting ties with a sonic wall of annoyance – that’s an irresistible 2 for 1!!! Earl Mitchell has done well, but 2017 he is worth 5 million, so I say part ways a year sooner rather than a year later and save 2.5 million- in addition, are you telling me second round pick Jordan isn’t going to start?! The elephant in the room though is Quinton Coples…ahem, 7.5 million this season and nothing is guaranteed!!! His case is a very, very curious one considering Vernon, Shelby, Wake, and Couples make a very crowded room. Is he a hedge, a bargaining chip, or a replacement? Well, summed up that’s 21.2 million in saving!!! But, it doesn’t end there.
Miami’s other avenue of cap relief is getting Suh to restructure his contract. Some might think Suh would need to be a saint to even consider. In reality, that’s far from the case. Actually, he’d be foolish not to. A restructure isn’t a pay cut, but rather a way to offer guarantee more money to the player structured in such a way as to free up cap space for the team in the years the teams it needs. For example, some teams load the contract in year one, when they have lots of cap space, and then the contract contracts in years 2 and beyond when the team will have less cap room. At the moment, Suh is going to count as $28.6 million against the 2016 salary cap. Based on last year’s salary cap, his $28.6 million dollar contract would take up 18.8% of the Dolphins entire cap space. Apparently Miami can convert most of his contract to a bonus, which would drop the salary cap number for 2016 to $10.6 million, however, if they went this route then the $18 million difference would be spread out over the next 4 seasons.
Either way, if the Dolphins do kick the can down the road, that is all they will be doing, because eventually this record breaking contract is going to have to be paid. The problem with getting Suh’s salary down to only $10.6 million for 2016, means that in 2018 and 2019 his contract is going to go back to counting around $26.6 to $28.6 million each year against the cap. The NFL salary caps for teams have gone up each year, so in percentage terms 2018 and 2019 Suh will not take up as large a percent of Miami’s overall salary cap, if they decided not to bite the bullet in 2016. Also, this cap stuff is tricky, you can always extend the contract some extra years and slim “the hit” out even farther.
Aponte was kept for a reason, Machiavellian nature aside, she has the smarts and tools to figure all this out and make it work. The only provision is what will Tannenbaum decide to do? My guess is that management and the coaching staff is a bit under the gun to win now, so they might be willing to kick the can down the road and believe they can draft smartly to compensate. Last, depending on T-Hill’s season, they can either restructure his contract if he does well and is kept, or cut him and free up 12 million in 2017, and 18 million a year beyond that. Don’t believe the hype – we are far from cap hell. Go Fins!!
