Miami Dolphins have $12 million in dead cap space with room for more
By Brian Miller
The NFL league’s new year won’t begin until March 18th so there is plenty of time for the Miami Dolphins to add to the dead cap space.
Entering the 2020 off-season, the Miami Dolphins currently have just over $12 million in dead cap space. That is a far cry from the absurd amount, $66 million plus, they carried last year.
So far the 2020 dead cap situation isn’t all that bad. Minkah Fitzpatrick carries the most dead space with $5 million and change. Kiko Alonso will carry just over $3 million, T.J. McDonald is still on the books from his horrible contract and leaves $1.9 million. Kenny Stills will count $1.7 million and Isaiah Prince has a $112,000 hit.
Miami is expected to have nearly $94 million cap space and while they don’t need it, they certainly will entertain options to create more.
Reshad Jones is a question heading into the 2020 season. He is currently scheduled to make $15.6 million. Releasing Jones will cost the Dolphins $8 million in dead money but they will offset that with a $7.5 cap saving. Jones is going to be the hot button topic as March approaches. He could redo his contract and add another year or two or the Dolphins could outright release him and take the hit.
Albert Wilson is another name that continues to pop up when discussing players being released. Wilson is scheduled to make $10.8 million. Releasing him saves $9.5 million and Miami will only carry $1.3 million in dead money.
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These are the two players that are more likely to be released than any others. Players like Daniel Kilgore will cost the Dolphins nothing if released and will save $3.6 million on the cap. Another name to watch is Charles Harris who did himself no favors in 2019. He will add to the Dolphins dead cap amount if released. Harris will cost Miami $3.1 million and save them only $291,000.
Harris should be gone, the Dolphins can afford to eat his salary instead of paying him $3.4 million to sit around.
Regardless of what Miami’s off-season plans are, they have the money to do whatever they want and they have the means to create more if they wish. Chris Grier has said that they will be aggressive this off-season but they also need to be smart, if not, they will be creating more dead cap space down the road.