Miami Dolphins Not Talking To Players About Status
By Brian Miller
If the Miami Dolphins have an idea of what they are going to do this off-season they are not telling anyone. In fact, according to the Miami Herald, they are not even telling the players who could be impacted by moves they make this off-season.
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Several players are expected to be asked to take pay cuts, likely Brian Hartline and Mike Wallace, while others are dangling on the threads of free agency like Jared Odrick, Charles Clay, and more. Players like Brandon Gibson, Dannell Ellerbe, and Phillip Wheeler also do not know their status.
This is not unheard of and while it may seem as this is a cruel game to play with your players the truth is you reduce your own leverage by telling the players, now, your intentions. If you want to re-sign a player you should probably start negotiating soon but if you are planning to release a player, you may want to try and trade him first. Anything the team tells a player will immediately become public knowledge so it’s no surprise that the team is playing it’s early off-season close to the hip.
Miami has 12 free agents they need to decide the futures of and also need to figure out how to gain more cap space heading into free agency. The team is currently over the projected $144 million 2015 cap. They have just over $7 million they can rollover to 2015 that was not used in 2014. Where they get the money to get both under the cap and give themselves room to spend will come in the form of restructures and releases.
The top candidates for release are Brandon Gibson who would save the team $3.2 million and Cortland Finnegan who would save $5.75 million. Wheeler, Ellerbe, and Hartline would save the Dolphins more if released as post-June 1st cuts. The NFL allows two players to be released as designated post-J1 cuts but that money is spread over 2015 and 2016.