With 24 hours until free agency, here is where the Miami Dolphins stand

Free agency in the NFL won’t officially begin until Wednesday afternoon but legal tampering can begin at noon on Monday, here is where the Miami Dolphins are.

On Monday, NFL teams can start negotiating contracts with the agents for free agents. That period of time will allow players to use those negotiations to take back to their own teams, call it a quick free-agent market analysis. In many cases, the player opts to sign with another team.

The Dolphins have holes to fill. They have needs, wants, and they have money to spend but they also have a roster that currently sits at 43 players under contract and that isn’t going to work.  So where do the Dolphins sit as they head into free agency? Here is what is going on and what Miami has to address in the coming week or two.

• Roster: The Dolphins, as noted, have 43 players under contract.
• 26 impending free agents after re-signing Salvon Ahmed and tendering Elijah Campbell.

Cap Situation: Entered last week $16 million over the projected $224 million NFL cap. Currently, sitting around $28 million in cap space after the Ahmed contract.

• Restructured Tyreek Hill – Saved $18 million in cap space
• Restructured Terron Armstead – Saved $10 million in cap space
• Restructued Bradley Chubb – Saved 12 millionn in cap space
• Informed Byron Jones he will be released as a June 1st cut – Will save $13.8 million on June 1st.
• Released Cethan Carter – saved just over $2 million in cap space.

The Miami Dolphins now have to make moves to gain more workable cap space.

Moves that could still happen to give Miami more workable cap space.

• Christian Wilkins – $10 million on 5th-year option. An extension could reduce his 2023 cap space to below $4 million.
• Zach Sieler – Extension would reduce his cap hit in 2023.
• Jerome Baker – Trade or release could give Miami $4 million in cap space.
• Connor Williams – Extension could drop cap liability to near $2 or 3 million from $8 million.

If the Dolphins make the necessary moves to gain more spending capital, they will still need to deal with their own impending free agents first and foremost.

Top impending free agents

• Nik Needham
• Trill Williams
• Andrew Van Ginkel
• Thomas Morstead
• Jeff Wilson
• Raheem Mostert
• Mike Gesicki – Nearly 100% he does not return to Miami.

After the Dolphins explore their own free agents, they will need to begin filling holes across the roster. While Morstead would fill the punter need, Miami could re-sign all of the above-mentioned players and still have holes at those positions.

• Tight end: The Dolphins currently have two tight ends on the roster under contract. Durham Smythe and Hunter Long. Neither is expected to be the day one featured starter.
• RB: Only Salvon Ahmed is under contract for the 2023 season.
• LB: Miami is expected to add a quality inside linebacker but a lot will depend on what they decide to do with Jerome Baker.
• CB: With Byron Jones out, the Dolphins need to be better at corner opposite Xavien Howard and it could lead to Miami looking at free agency for a top replacement.
• OL: Grier seems content with his offensive line from last year and has said as much but right tackle is a big problem and needs to be addressed at the very least with quality competition for the starting job.
• QB: Miami needs a veteran backup for Tua Tagovailoa but how they approach the position could be a cheaper route than the $8 million they gave Bridgewater last year.

Miami is not expected to make big splashes in free agency like they did last year but they could, as some have surmised, make one splash and then fill in the roster as needed with veteran minimum players. Miami will only have five draft picks to work with in April, 1 2nd round, 2 3rd round, a sixth, and a seventh. Free agency will be important for Miami to shape the 2023 roster, even if it turns out to be lower-end moves.