We under the Cap

3.6 Million seems a lot less then the 70 million we were told we would be under by some on here... what happened LOL

 

I’ve scratched my head in frustration over the handling of some our players by Grier and the front office in general. I will give credit though on the attempt to get Wilkins signed long term the past 2 off-seasons. I really thought we were close last offseason.

Losing AVG is going to hurt more than losing Wilkins though. Thor really proves to be an effective OLB and edge rusher and with Chubb and Phillips return not due until mid to late season, we’re going to be sucking wind defensively.

We will be getting 2 compensatory draft picks for the 2025 draft and unless anything changes, that’s going to give Miami 11 draft picks, 6 of which will be in the first 3 rounds if I’m calculating correctly.

Grier, in my opinion has just set the stage for 2024 to be a do or die year for McDaniel and company…and potentially himself as well. If Miami falters, the stage could easily be set for Ross (or his successor if he decides he’s had enough) to completely clean house and being in a new GM and HC with 11 draft picks to build a new team with.

If however the Dolphins can get over the playoff hump and make a run into the playoffs, McDaniel and company will be sitting pretty to be able to add on to the roster for the next 5 years.

To quote Han Solo though, I gotta bad feeling about this.

 

Baltimore just paid $8M a year for Derrick Henry.

 

OTC has the Dolphins at a little over $4m under the cap.

If Tua is extended, that would put us around $25m under. If Chubb and Tyreek get restructured we could see another $20+m added to that and maybe even $30m.

Add in X’s June 1st money of $18m and the Dolphins would be (using the conservative $20m from Chubb and Tyreek) just under $60m under the cap. (Which would have been plenty enough to keep Wilkins and AVG if the Dolphins wanted to pay Wilkins that kind of money.)

Just like I’ve been saying @dolphin25

The cap isn’t a “myth”, but it’s so fungible it doesn’t really need to be worried about. I understand that it gets confusing, it has been to me since it’s inception, but that’s BECAUSE it’s not really a hard cap and there are so many things available to teams to create space. Saying that, the math is the math. Addition and subtraction… that’s it. There’s no secret formulas or code.

 

Yeah, teams have a budget with a cap, but can borrow against future cap with bonuses and have large portions of the contracts not guaranteed. It creates parity as eventually money actually paid has to be ducted from the cap, unlike say most soccer leagues. There are floors and ceilings, so teams cannot just spend without limits, and honestly everyone would have loved to keep Wilkins and Hunt, or even Howard. But, people that were stressed about the Dolphins offseason, or mad about not keeping Wilkins and Hunt at the price that they got weren't really paying attention.

 

What does Kyle Crabb know when @dolphin25 @hitman8 and @StaleTacos all said this was a lie.


Clowns

 

You don’t want to touch Chubb’s contract. Leave that one alone! If we decide to move on from him after next season, that will be a $25 million savings against the cap. That’s HUGE!!!!

If we decide to keep him, then we restructure.

 

I’m assuming that Tyreek will be getting a restructure soon. With him, Tua, and X’s money the Dolphins will be around $50-$60m under the cap. Just like I’ve been saying since before FA and guys l have been saying is impossible. lol

Anyhow, in 2025, the Dolphins will be around $60m under the cap with 5 picks in the first 3 rounds. Unless they trade down or up this draft. Then they may have more or less. Armstead and Chubb have outs in case one retires and the other is let go. Which will add even more money to the cap space.

 

I wonder if they are going to do something crazy like front loading Tua's extension with his guaranteed money coming in the form of a high new salary this year or next as space will roll over. That'd let them breeze through extending Waddle and Phillips and have flexibility with Hill. There must be a reason why no one has done that yet though.

 

That’s a possibility.

The examples I’ve been seeing of a Tua extension show him as having an around $10m cap this year (down from about his current $24m) and a cap hit of around $20m over the next 2 or so years after. It really depends on how long the extension is… most likely it’ll be 4-5 years, but if it’s 3 or 6? Who knows.

If I had to guess, I suspect he’ll get a 4 yr deal in the $240-$250m range with a guaranteed amount of about $170-$180m. This season’s cap hit will be around $10-$15m and then we will see future cap hits of around $20-$25 for 2025, and up from there. However, those cap hits will lessen as he restructures for signing bonuses, etc. The contract will most likely have void years, but if he keeps playing like he has over the past 2 years, those void years will just roll into a new extension.

 

Now it is 50 million where is was 80 Million The money freed up was to sign those the Dolphins have signed in FA. The argument was the Dolphins would not be able to sign and keep their guys, and they have not been able to do that. Lost Baker, AVG, X, Jones, Hunt. The guys they have signed are not necessarily improvements.

 

Who? Which "back up" got $8-10M where a "starter" was available for $16M to $20M?

 

Learn to read. I’ve clearly written.. over and over… that it would be between $50 and $80m depending on what they wanted to do.

YOUR argument was they didn’t have enough money to keep those guys. MY argument was that they’d have plenty of money but may not think they were worth the money.

 

That’s not what I’m seeing at all. I’m seeing starters for a lot less money than X, Hunt, and Wilkins along with a lot of depth at bargain prices.

 

Ohhhh…

I, and I’m assuming Two Tacos, thought you were talking about the FA’s the Dolphins have signed.

 

Essentially they do front load these contracts with signing bonuses, etc.

All these huge contracts we see QB’s getting aren’t what they will actually get. They get what is guaranteed and that’s typically way less than what the contract is. And that money is prorated out for the length of the contract (or longer is there are void years). The hope is, a QB signs one, maybe 2 big deals, plays long enough and well enough that he doesn’t need replaced, and that money is stretched out over many years lowering the cap hit.

If Tua gets an extension, his cap hit this year will most likely be around $10m. Next year it will probably be around $20-$25m… and so on. Most QB’s with these large contracts restructure nearly every season in order to lower the cap hit.

 

Yeah, I get what Finatik meant now. IMO Tua is going to get top 5 money, as he has played like a top 5 for the last 2 years, and is young. Front loading through salary instead of bonus lets you front load the cap hit. Which is counter intuitive with capflation. Meaning that $10M is going to be a lesser percentage of cap in future years as compared to this one. Just having that hit over lets the team have so much flexibility. I cannot think of a team doing that with a big contract so there must be a, or more likely many, reasons that I am not smart enough to think of.

 

The Dolphins are currently ranked 11th in the NFL with $23m under the cap.

They’ve signed Tua, restructured Tyreek, signed Waddle and most other starters they wanted to keep other than Wilkins. Whom they could have signed, but didn’t want to pay that amount.

So much for all the “cap issues” some here kept crying about. lol

 

The cap issues have been kicked down the road. We'll have to face them at some point in the next couple years.

 

Not really. There will be some monies that come due for players that are released, washed, or retired, but the cap will keep rising and it will be no different than now. We have X, Jones, and Baker counting nearly $28m against the cap right now. How’s that hurting the Dolphins?

The cap is built for “kicking the can down the road”. It’s too malleable to really matter much. There’s of course a limit in that you can’t pay everyone $50m a season, but the Dolphins will be fine.

 

The Rams had to face it, eventually. The Saints had to face it, eventually. Every team that signs high-dollar FAs has to face it eventually, and so will we.

 

Wel the ultimate job for the GM is to continue to draft and aquire good players and players that others are sleeping on.

We lost Wilkins and Gink, we’re gonna feel that on D most likely unless Chop and Quinton bell can perform as good.

No one imo is gonna replace Wilkins so we have to take that hit

 

The more you manage it conservatively, the more you have to spend on free agents from other teams. As it stands, the Fins are going to have to work just to break even every Mach at this level for the forseeable future.

 

I posted this on the Hill contract thread, but it belongs here as well:

 

Hopefully they push most of that forward into 2025. Even if they do, there's still more work to break even.

 

But they really didn’t suffer any cap casualties. Every team carries dead money. The Dolphins were how much over the cap at the beginning of this season? They now have the 5th-6th most cap in the league. We will hear from the Chicken Little’s next season, and once again the Dolphins will be fine. One big thing that a lot don’t seem to realize, $20m today will be a lot less towards the cap 3 years from now.

 

They let Wilkins walk because they didn’t want to pay him, they had the money. I’m still not sure why Gink left… he was cheap.

 

If by break even you mean $70+m under the cap like this last March I agree.

(and I see you @dolphin25 liking these posts after hiding … lol… how much did we end up having in cap space this year? Lmao )

 

There’s work every season. Did you not catch all the work this season to free up over $70m, sign/extend everyone they wanted, and sign FA’s? Lol

 

I had the same thought. We'll need it to mitigate another offseason talent drain.