The Miami Dolphins managed to shed one of their worst contracts when they traded Jalen Ramsey to the Pittsburgh Steelers. They still have some pretty bad deals left to manage, however.
Tua Tagovailoa's contract has been called horrible for the Dolphins, but the reality is that good quarterbacks deserved to be paid a lot of money. Those contracts just look bad if that team is not winning in the playoffs consistently, which Miami has not done.
Bradley Chubb reduced his contract for the 2025 season. He may not be around in 2026 to see his deal go back up, which leaves just one contract that has to be eating the Dolphins from the inside out: Tyreek Hill.
Hill will count $27.6 million in cap space this year, and it would cost the Dolphins over $55 million in dead money to simply release him. Trading him wouldn't help all that much either. With Ramsey now gone, the big bulge in Miami's cap is Hill.
Dolphins luckily have an out on Tyreek Hill's contract after the 2025 season
Hill has said repeatedly that he wants to stay with the Dolphins. He has gone so far as to say he doesn't need to be the highest-paid player on the roster. He will be one of the highest-paid if he remains on the team because he isn't going to take a pay cut, though.
Hill's cap number will jump to $51 million in 2026, but if the Dolphins released him with a post-June 1 designation they would save $39.1 million on the cap while eating just over $12 million in dead money, per Over The Cap. That is definitely palatable.
The savings are the same if they trade Hill after June 1, but Miami will only save $36.33 million while taking $15.56 million on the chin if they cut or trade him before the all-important June 1 deadline.
It is hard to pinpoint the Dolphins' direction right now, so Hill's bloated 2026 cap number will make for another interesting offseason. The front office will assuredly try to trade him before the start of the new league year, or through the offseason like they did with Ramsey.
That is, if they don't trade him before the 2025 NFL trade deadline.