As has been brought up here and discussed, next year (and subsequent years) our cap is going to become an issue. I like the fact that we signed a playmaker on offense, are younger and faster at LB, and filled some urgent needs with one year contracts. However, that does not come without a cost/risk for "out years". All of this we know. When I look at the impending big name FAs next year, (Clabo, Grimes, Keller, Starks, Soliai, Jones), I am thinking its likely that we only get to keep three of these players. No good team, esp one that spent alot of money on FA is going to be able to keep all of its players. This makes it vital for our young players (McCray, Egnew, both rookie CBs, Dallas Thomas, Dion Sims, Kheeston Randle) to develop and contribute. Coaching those guys up and getting them ready to go is the key to our team going forward. If we only keep three of those impending FAs, my very early choice based would be Grimes, Soliai, and Jones. Of course some current players due large contracts next year may be cut which can give us more flexibility. But another thing to keep in mind, if RT develops like most think he will, he's going to need to be locked up after 2014, and that won't be cheap. Drafting and developing young talent is more important than ever.
Not really. A lot of our signings just replaced contracts we already had (Dansby/Burnett/Bess replaced with Ellerbe/Wheeler/Gibson for roughly the same contract money). Wallace's contract basically replaced what we would have payed Long. So really the only big new money was Hartline. What Ireland/Aponte are doing is paying the brunt of the cost next year. The team won't be big spenders in free agency but they will have money they can spend on re-signing a few players. Plus if the market continues like it did this year (ie: if a lot of players make it to FA) then Ireland can nab a couple steals again and then work the draft like usual. My prime targets for not being here are Incognito (I think if Thomas plays well enough he boots Jerry to the side this year and then moves to the left side when Incognito goes), Starks and Misi (think they will go cheap for a strong side guy). Keller is 50/50. He seems to think more highly of himself then I think of him so if he plays well this year he pretty much will probably out price himself. I could see Clabo being re-signed if he plays well cause he won't cost much and buys the team time to fine a new RT. Jones I think gets re-signed before the season starts. Also, I think Grimes will play well but he won't be that pricey because the guy will be 31 heading into next season. Guys generally don't get paid mega bucks at that age. Gone: Incognito/Jerry/Starks/Misi and depending on good play: 50/50: Keller Keep: Grimes/Jones/Clabo and Soliai Then from there we are most likely week 2 players. ie: We don't make a signing till the initial frenzy passes and then go tier 2/3 shopping. Edit: Dolphins current 2014 cap number is: $104,988,927 That is with all current dead money accounted for (spotrac #'s) Right now the team has just over $17 million in 2013 cap. My guess is that roughly $12 million of that is going to rookies/injury replacement signings and a low first year Jones cap signing. Leaving about $5 million to carry over to next year. Off the top of my head here are some 2014 cap casualties : Richard Marshall 6,516,667 cap. - He'll either restructure to play for less this August or be cut. Matt Moore 5,500,000 cap. - Trade bait to a QB hungry team. Current 1 year rental to come to a final decision on Devlin as backup. Dimitri Patterson 5,400,000 cap. -Another restructure/cut bait option in August. No dead money here at all. Vaughn Martin 2,325,000 cap. -Ummm your toast. Nate Garner 1,791,666 cap. -Might go cheaper here. He's nice to have and gives flexibility...but $$$'s are $$$'s Daniel Thomas 1,029,821 cap. -Dead man walking this year if he doesn't show something in camp. Got to think even with the dead money involved you got enough in cap room cuts there to re-sign Grimes/Soliai/Clabo and still be at $104 million. So not really that bad of shape when you think about it.
everything hinges on the development of a few young players .... we purposely signed these players to 1 year deals - not simply because of price, but because we have young developing talent that we 'hope' can step up and contribute. what we didn't want to happen was to throw a 'Martin' in and live with the result ... a la last year. we won't know where we really stand until after this season .... 'could' it be a problem - sure ... but the main players/positions to watch are Keller, Clabo, Grimes and Clemons .... (expect Jones to be resigned before the season starts).
I don't think it's all that likely the cap becomes an issue unless the team is really disproportionately successful with their free agent acquisitions this year. Between potential/probably cuts and the cap space they have now it's not unreasonable that they roll 15+ million into next year.
I'm looking for a stud tight end next year.. Resign grimes.. Dallas takes over for Richie. Need to see how Vernon does at Dend before I know what to do with Starks, if Vern plays well there, Odrick moves inside, Starks contract number lowers.. Dion takes over for Misi as One of the starters. Who knows, to much unknown
we can project a few swaps for next year ... but so much depends on what happens this season. - how well the 1 year contracts play - how much experience do the rookie and year 2 players get - how far in the playoffs do we go this year (this one alone will very much effect next years roster)
In all honesty I don't see any problem in 2014 as it appears that we will have around 30+ mil in CAP space given the players we will cut or lose to FA. Some figures to mull over: Dolphins 2013/2014 CAP http://www.thephinsider.com/2013/3/...gency-2013-miami-dolphins-salary-cap-2014-cap Salary figures http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/miami-dolphins/ 2014 FA class http://www.spotrac.com/free-agents/nfl/2014/miami-dolphins/ and our CAP hits http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/miami-dolphins/cap-hit/ Given the above facts and knowing that some of these players will be lost to injury, trade bait, and/or beaten out by younger guys as time goes by I see no reason to think we can't continue to stay out of CAP hell. As long as we DON'T lose that smart little Lady running the show.
Looks like the big guys expiring next year are Dustin Keller, Tyson Clabo, Richie Incognito, John Jerry, Randy Starks, Paul Soliai, Koa Misi and Reshad Jones. Those are the players for whom I'm not sure we have in-house replacements, as of yet. I would add Richard Marshall and Dimitri Patterson to that as I don't think they survive to 2014. Looks like it's going to be another active replacement-oriented free agency period. With the room left under this year's cap carried forward another year, the likelihood of some cuts such as Marshall and Patterson, an estimated $125 million salary cap and the current space scheduled underneath it, I think they'll once again have about $40 million of cap space to work with...so there's plenty of opportunity there. The difference between this year and next year will likely be that we don't have extra draft picks.
