Dolphins & NFL salaries by team, unit, and position

Fantastic info graphic.

Clicking on different teams you can see the patterns of success. When you tap on successful teams, by and large, they have the same size and pattern of circles (template for asset allocation between positions). In other words success looks like DE's paid more than DTs, CBs and LBs about the same amount of the cap, and Safeties slightly less.

On offense it looks like the center paid least, then guards, then tackles, but not too huge a disparity. The WRs should be bigger (paid more) and the TE a bit less than WR but equal or a bit more than the RBs. qB varies.

Comparing the Dolphins to other templates, we look stuck in a Parcells mold of paying mainly for DTs and LBs to stuff the run, and on offense of underpaying at WR.

Those are certainly true... Our secondary is our weakness, and our pass rush DEs are not as good or paid as much of the cap as most playoff teams. On offense our WRs and TEs have not been our strength.

Love info graphics like that because you can quickly look very deep into how different teams have been put together. I hope this offseason changes our 'look' significantly.

Why the heck are we the fourth highest paid special teams? Who's the expensive dude on STs?

 

The Colts spent no money on offense yet did well.

 

Because they drafted young. Luck, Hilton, Allen, and Fleener are the current and future core of the roster. Wayne being the exception. Donnie Avery to a lesser degree, because he came cheap and over produced. In 4 years, these core guys are all getting paid. And whatever offensive additions they add in the future (WR to replace Wayne) will also get paid at some point.

 

Expensive ST guys Fields, Carpenter, and Denney?

 

Very cool.

Rex really loves his LBers and CBs.

 

We are stuck in the Parcells mold, that's what some of us have been trying to say. Ireland followed a blueprint. This past off season the blueprint finally changed and that's why we allowed contracts to be up instead of extending them before this point. Its also why we are going to have (and have had) so much turnover. Ireland had to follow an outmoded blueprint. That blueprint has historically not valued WRs, amazing QBs, seem busting TEs, or athletic lines. Instead Parcells wanted things like possession WRs (Keyshawn, Hartline) & solid but unspectacular caretaker QBs (Simms, Penny), all purpose TEs (Bavaro, Fasano) and giant immovable objects on the line (The Giants, Long).

 

That's an interesting graph.

 

If you look at most fo the better teams in the league, they have $35-50 million in cap space devoted to their passing game skill position players. Currently undder contract for the Dolphins are really only Tannehill and Bess, who combined take up only about $5-6 million in cap space. So there is plenty of opportunity to load up on receiving targets in FA and, because WRs often take time to develop, that may be the best way to do it. Even paying top dollar, Wallace could be signed to a 5 yr., $50 million contract with $20 million in signing bonus and annual salaries of 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 million, which would give him a cap hit of $6 million for 2013. Jennings could probably be had for something like 4 yrs, $32 million with $14 million in signing bonus and annual salaries of $2, 4, 6, 6 million, which would give him a cap hit of $5.5 million for 2013. A first round TE would get a deal that should have a cap hit of around $2 million, much like Tannehill's last year.You could probably even get Hartline in there on a 4 yr., $26 million deal with a signing bonus of $12 million and annual salaries of 1, 3, 4 and 6, which would have a cap hit of $4M for 2013. All of that would still have a cap hit of only around $25M for next year. The salaries would get dicey down the road when Tannehill gets a real starting QB contract and these salaries start to escalate, so it would be better to structure them a little differently. the truth is, that long term contracts are often not expected to play out for their full term on the original terms anyhow. I don't particularly like any of the TEs where we pick in the first, so it may be better to go with a vet there.

 

This will not sit well wit the "Irish can't draft wrs or te's" crowd.

 

If Wallace wants 10 Millie I hope he gets it, elsewhere. He's not a complete player, best used as a decoy IMO. I'd rather pay Bowe 6-8 Millie and go after a couple guys in the draft. Bowe-Keenan Allen- Bess- Q Patton- Binns- Matthews would be plenty good enough IMO.

 

I suspect Wallace will be looking for a contract like Desean Jackson's, which is about $10 million per year. If structured the way I propose, it would have a cap hit of only about $6 million in the first year and $8M in the second. That's a fair price for him. The last 2 years probably won't happen unless he has shown to be a dominant receiver. I don't buy the notion that he is not a complete WR or that he is best used as a decoy. I would much prefer his 2010 and 2011 production to any decoy value. I don't think he is a finished product, but I think he can continue to develop and his speed is special. I'm OK with Bowe as a player, but many around here insist he is just a POS who will shut down once he gets paid. I don't know if that is true or not. As for the draft, I like Keenan Allen, but I don't know if he'll be special and even if he is it will probably take a few years. I like Robert Woods about as much as Allen and think Woods should be available in the 2nd. I'd like to keep the first round pick available for the BPA and not have to force a receiver into that slot.

 

Not to hijack the thread, but when you go through each team's WR corp, it's hard to see what WR across the league are being paid and think Hartline deserves $5-6 million.

 

Agree with you on Wallace. Don't agree with you on Bowe. I'd be shocked if they gave a player like Bowe any significant money. Jennings is really the only one of the big 3 FA WRs that I can see Miami being interested in.

 

When people talk about $5-6 million, they are generally talking about the average salary over the course of the contract. they way contracts are structured, however, a lot of guys who may be making $7+ million as a yearly average may only show up on the chart as having a $2-3 million cap hit. For example, Colston's deal averages $7+ million per year but his cap hit was just $3.3 million. Desean Jackson's deal averages around $10 million per season but his cap hit on that chart is $3 million.