Phin Phanatic
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Three things that the Miami Dolphins have to do to get to Super Bowl LIX

Miami fans are hungry for a Super Bowl contender, but the Dolphins just have not been cooperating.

By Scott Alan Salomon

Miami Dolphins need to offer Connor Williams enough money to bypass free agency and re-sign with the team and help protect quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
Miami Dolphins need to offer Connor Williams enough money to bypass free agency and re-sign with the team and help protect quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. / Timothy T Ludwig/GettyImages
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First, the Dolphins need to find a way to restructure existing contracts so they can sign their own free agents.

Travis Kelce, Jalen Ramsey
Jalen Ramsey is the second highest paid Miami Dolphin and he needs to restructure his contract to make it more cap friendly so the team can sign existing free agents. Here he is shown trying to tackle Travis Kelce in the wild card game in Kansas City. / David Eulitt/GettyImages

The Dolphins are currently $51,245,377 over the salary cap for 2024 according to Spotrac.

They must restructure the contracts of Tyreek Hill, Jalen Ramsey, Bradley Chubb, Tua Tagovailoa, and Terron Armstead to free up cap space. All of these players are scheduled to count for more than $20,000,000 each and constitute 50 percent of the team's overall payroll and salary cap.


Hill has a cap number of $31,323,750 and Ramsey comes in at $27,267,000, The Dolphins are going to need to pay them a large signing bonus and small base salary to fit them back in under the cap. Remember, the signing bonus is allocated to each year of the contract, cap wise, on a pro-rata basis. If the player, take Hill for example, signs a contract that includes a $50 million signing bonus, and the contract is for five years, $10 million of the bonus will count toward the salary cap per year, plus the base salary and incentives.

Tagovailoa has got to get an extension and it has to be cap-friendly. He will command an average of $50 million per season, so that means that Stephen Ross has got to write a big check upfront and pay the former Alabama superstar like a top-five quarterback. Under his rookie contract, he is heading into the final year that pays him in excess of $23 million.

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