The Miami Dolphins need leaders, and players should look no further than Terron Armstead, who is about to give the team a dream scenario.
Earlier on Monday, head coach Mike McDaniel told the media he was unsure about Armstead's future with the Dolphins. The Pro Bowl tackle, however, is giving the team more reason to convince him to stay.
According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, Armstead "plans to take his contract down to minimum." In other words, he is reducing his $28.6 million salary to the veteran minimum of $1.21 million.
It has huge salary-cap ramifications. The Dolphins are waiting for Armstead to decide his future, and this selfless decision allows him to take his time while not restricting the team's ability to make moves in free agency.
Terron Armstead's decision will save the Dolphins significant cap space this offseason
Kyle Crabbs of Touchdown Miami provided some great insight into the cap savings this move generates.
"This decision from Armstead would save Miami $13.79M in cap space at the start of the league year, $15M starting on June 2nd, and $11.414M in 2026 cap space," writes Crabbs.
Crabbs notes that the Dolphins would save a further $11.4 million in 2026.
Making this move will save the Dolphins more money than they could have imagined.
If the Dolphins were smart, they would hope Armstead will decide to return and then restructure the deal to include playing time incentives to bump his pay as the season moves along. Miami drafted Armstead's eventual replacement in 2024, Patrick Paul.
With the extra money, the Dolphins could gain an extra $14 million to use when free agency begins. It will also give Armstead time to make a better decision on what he wants to do with his career while affording the Dolphins time and money to make decisions that will improve the roster, something Armstead has said needs to be done.