Jeff Ireland is not a popular man when it comes to the Miami Dolphins' fan base but he deserves a round of applause. The Dolphins are in tremendous salary cap space now and the future. After signing Dannell Ellerbe, Phillip Wheeler, and Mike Wallace the Dolphins are still roughly $24 million under the salary cap. The Dolphins can free up even more cap space in the future by signing Randy Starks to an extension which would greatly lower his franchise tag number of $8.4 million. The Dolphins can also release some veteran players that would free up significant cap space such as Dimitri Patterson ($4.6 million), Richard Marshall ($3.4 million), Richie Incognito ($4.3 million), Davone Bess ($2.7 million), and Dan Carpenter ($2.7 million). Those salaries alone add up to over $17 million in cap space. Let's not forget that Ireland actually saved money by going younger at linebacker as the combination of Ellerbe/Wheeler is about $2.8 million cheaper than the combination of Dansby/Burnett. The Dolphins are well aware of their needs and it would not surprise me if they addressed their three biggest needs before the week is over.... Offensive Tackle (Jake Long/ Eric Winston) Cornerback (Sean Smith, Captain Munnerlyn) Tight End (Dustin Keller) You do this and the Dolphins are as dangerous as any team in football when it comes to the NFL draft and it would not shock me one bit if they took West Virginia's Tavon Austin in round one.
i'm willing to be good money that Dimitri Patterson doesn't go anywhere. not so sure about the others you listed. I agree they have the ammo to fill those spots, but im not sure what the hold up is. I'm pretty sure the phins are going to wait for the Long/Rams thing to go down, or not, before they take any more steps. He ain't cheap even after a discount.
I agree completely. I'm hopeful for Volmer if we're going tackle, as it would put a dent in New England as well. Him or Winston and I'm a happy guy! All the good Guards are taken, so that is something we could address in the early rounds (Warmack possibly?). The CB position scares me bad though. All the ones left have holes in their game, minus Talib and Lewis. Would be ecstatic if we got one of those guys to pair with Munnerlyn or a guy I'm high on in EJ Biggers. Maybe we can roll the dice on Grimes? But we're going to be a very solid team this season!
I'm not going to throw out a number and it has not been verified but Wallaces cap hit number for 2014 is not a cap friendly number $17.25 million is the number being thrown around http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/thedailydolphin/2013/03/14/contract-breakdown-miami-dolphins-go-all-in-on-wr-mike-wallace/ Ellerbe's cap hit goes from $2.4 million in 2013 to $7.4 million in 2014 to $9.8 million in 2015 Wheelers cap hit goes from $2.4 million in 2013 to $6.4 million in 2014 to $4.3 million in 2015 but $6.3 million in his final 2 years of his contract Hartlines cap hit goes from $2.1 million in 2013 to $6.4 million in 2014 to over $7 million for his last 3 yrs of his contract plus we're going to have to deal with Jones and his contract as well as Starks,Soliai,Bess,Carrol,Carpenter,Incognito,Jerry,and Misi Not sure how the cap hit in the future Just hope we don't turn into the Jets
Well we'll most likely carry over some cap from this year to next. We did the June 1st cut to Dansby and Burnett to alleviate some of their dead money for next year. And most importantly, most (if not all) of those players you said we to deal with next year will probably not be back (Exception Jones, and maybe Starks and Bess.) We are still in very good shape capwise next year. In 2015, we have a ton of flexibility to cut players that under perform and not have it affect the cap.
We're at 95M for next season, the Jets are at 108M. We have Mike Wallace as the only player next season over $10M. The Jets have 4 players over $10M.
I love our offseason so far, we added real good young talent. We are a much faster football team. Thumbs up to Ireland & FO.
The ultimate goal of a GM is to provide players to win games. I could care less how great our cap situation is at a 7-9 record. It should be good. I see the point that at least we aren't the Jets with a terrible roster and cap hell, but that is a special breed of incompetence. Also having players with high cap numbers that are able to be cut or replaced is not a "win" for Jeff Ireland, it just highlights the "losing" he has done.
I don't understand. Why is Miami waiting to take hits on these guys in later years? We are we not applying this to now, when we have the most space to accompany the money?
All of the contracts were structured beautifully. The Wallace deal is short this year, with most of the hit in years two and three when we can afford it better. Our two new linebackers are getting most of their money up front.
For the players they want to keep that will be FA in 2014 they can renegotiate extensions in June once we know exactly where we are on the cap. They can turn salary into Bonus money and if there is cap left over from 2013 they can pay bonus money out of that and take the hit this year.
The linebackers aren't getting most of their money up front, they both get a big raise next year. The contracts are terribly structured, every single one of them takes a huge jump in 2014. In 2014 the 5 free agents signed so far this year have a combined cap hit of $43 million. The team as a whole is at $98 million and we need to sign or replace Rashad Jones, Chris Clemons, both offensive guards, Bess, both defensive tackles, and Misi. We also still need to address TE, LT, CB, and many would say RB. There is no way we can do that all with $20 million.
I don't know if this was posted anywhere but Clemons cap hit for the 2013 season will be 2.75 million. If I did the math right, we should be a little over 22 million in cap space.
and supposedly in 2015 the cap is going to be much higher then it currently is. I guess 2014 will be 125 million then as I said in 2015 it goes up pretty decent. Forget where I read it. Has something to do with the new TV MONEY coming in or something.