Miami Dolphins safeties grossly overpaid with bad contracts

The Miami Dolphins have a safety issue that isn’t going away anytime soon. Reshad Jones and T.J. McDonald’s contracts are simply horrible.

If Miami Dolphins fans wanted T.J. McDonald gone or Reshad Jones trade they may have to wait it out another year or maybe two. If there is one thing we have learned from Mike Tannenbaum since taking over for Dawn Aponte is that Miami’s contracts have not been very good.

Reshad Jones threatened to hold out prior to the 2016 season but didn’t. He received a big contract extension in March of 2017. To the tune of $48 million with $33 million guaranteed and a $9 million signing bonus. Ahead of the 2018 season Jones converted almost $9 million to a signing bonus to create cap space for the Dolphins.

Jones has played throughout the season with a shoulder injury and perhaps that is why is having an off-year but one situation still burns with a lot of people. He quit on his team in week two against the Jets refusing to take the field after the first quarter. Jones stands by his decision and has no regrets and still maintains he did not quit on his teammates. Regardless of what his opinion is, he was healthy and not on the field. He wasn’t asked to sit down, wasn’t pulled from the game, he took himself out because of a disagreement with a coach. So he quit.

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Getting rid of Jones may not be what the Dolphins want but it is also something they can’t really afford to do either. Jones will make $17 million in 2019 and another $15 million in 2020. Another $14.5 million can be made in 2021. The problem however lies with how the contracts have been structured. Thanks in part to the conversion of portions as a signing bonus.

Releasing or trading Jones does little to help the Dolphins salary cap. Designated as a post-June 1st release, Miami will save $11 million and eat $16 million that can be spread out to the following year. If they wanted to release him prior to June 1st, they would eat $23 million to save $6 million.

In 2020 those numbers do not drop much with cap savings of $7.5 million and $8 million dead in pre-June releases. Trading Jones post June 1st has the most savings as Miami would only carry a little over $4 million in dead money but finding a trade partner would be difficult.

If Jones contract is bad the one for T.J. McDonald isn’t much better.

Miami made a huge blunder when they signed McDonald to an extension prior to the conclusion of training camp in 2017 with McDonald not playing a single down in the regular season for Miami. McDonald served and eight game suspension in 2017 before returning to the Dolphins and his 2018 campaign has been up and down.

If released, McDonald would save the Dolphins $494,000 against a $6.4 million cap hit in 2019. In 2020 that number goes from 400k to $5.6 million an $1.9 million in dead space. If designated a post June 1st release Miami would save $1.4 million and eat $4.59 million.

This is a lot of money tied to both of the starting safeties on a team that is struggling from that position and it doesn’t appear that much will change next season given the ramifications of the salary structures for both of them.