Contracts that are holding the Miami Dolphins back

One of the biggest problems for the Miami Dolphins is that certain contract eliminations will not actually save the team spending money.

Byron Jones will carry a high 2023 cap number of $18.3 million. That’s a lot of money to pay for a guy coming off an “Achilles” injury that kept him out all year. Jones’ issues could be something else entirely and it was pretty clear that while the coaches didn’t call him out specifically, there was some summation from the media that there could have been an internal issue that played into him not playing.

Jones could save the Dolphins $3.5 million in cap space by being released but they would eat over $14 million in dead space. Miami would eat only $4.7 million (still a lot) should they designate him a post-June 1st release, saving $13.6 million.

The problem here, however, is that the Dolphins would not get that money until June 1st and thus, it would not help them gain spending capital during the free agency period.

Jones’ contract has been a mess from the start. A contract was given to a free agent corner after giving the highest contract to a corner the year before to Xavien Howard. That created a bad situation internally that led to trade speculation for Howard and a reworked contract to make him happy.  From the start, it wasn’t a good deal for Miami and they are still dealing with it.

To put this in a little more perspective, in 2024 the Dolphins could cut him and still eat over $10 million while saving only $8 million. In 2025, Jones would still cost Miami $5 million in dead space with no savings at all but the contract can be voided. At some point, maybe this year,  the Dolphins are going to eat a big chunk of money to get rid of him.

Jones will be the fourth highest-paid player on the Dolphins’ 2023 roster.