Warning: Today’s post contains a lot of math and not much football.
Free agency is essentially complete and the Dolphins’ roster is mostly set for 2012, but one question I still hear a lot is, “How much salary cap space do the Dolphins need to sign their rookie class? Do they have to cut or restructure any guys to fit their rookies under the cap?”
In short, the answer is “no.” But it’s a complicated subject, so we’ll do our best to explain it in plain English today.
Last week it was announced that the Dolphins will have exactly $6.438 million in salary cap space for its rookie class. And indeed, when the regular season begins, the Dolphins will have approximately $6.438 million worth of cap space represented by the rookies (a late-round player may not make the team).
But during the offseason, the Dolphins, who currently are $5.49 million under the salary cap after giving Cameron Wake his contract extension, don’t need to get to $6.438 million to sign the rookie class. Instead, the Dolphins’ rookie class will only add $2.36 million to the salary cap’s bottom line.
Click to expand...