The Dolphins’ new regime is beginning this roster retool with something that’s historic and stunning and sobering, though no fault of the football executives now running the team.

The 2026 Dolphins will be allocating more than 58% of their salary cap space to players who aren’t on their roster. That’s unprecedented in NFL history.

Of the Dolphins’ adjusted $307.7 million salary cap for 2026, $179 million of that will be allocated to players long gone, per overthecap.com.

Miami, which has about $2 million in salary cap space at the moment, will secure an additional $20 million in cap room after Bradley Chubb’s release is processed on June 2. But $19 million of that will be needed to sign the draft class.

“We’ve never seen a team do what the Dolphins are about to try to do,” ESPN’s Adam Schefter said of a franchise using so much of its cap on jettisoned players. As Schefter noted Wednesday, the Dolphins have 43 players on minimum contracts (it’s now 44); the next closest team has 31.

But here’s the good news that stems from new Dolphins general manager Jon Eric-Sullivan keeping his word and getting the team’s cap quickly in order: By enduring the majority of that cap pain in 2026, the Dolphins should have ample flexibility to construct their roster, without significant limitations, in 2027, 2028 and beyond.

The Dolphins’ decision to take the lowest-possible dead money hit for Tua Tagovailoa this season ($55.4 million) — which was necessary to have the cap space to put together the 2026 roster — leaves the team with a $43.8 million hit for Tagovailoa in 2027. But that shouldn’t be onerous for Miami next offseason.

Tagovailoa and Bradley Chubb ($12.8 million Dolphins dead cap hit in 2027) are the only Dolphins’ dead money hits on their ledger for 2027. That number could grow a bit but likely won’t grow a lot.

That leaves the Dolphins currently with $148 million in cap space for 2027, per overthecap.com. That’s third most behind the Cardinals and Jets, even while factoring in those Tagovailoa and Chubb dead money hits in 2027.

The 2026 draft class will take up more than $23 million of the 2027 cap and next year’s draft class could add another $15 million to $22 million in 2027 cap charges, depending on the number and value of the Dolphins’ picks in the April 2027 draft.

So that would leave Miami with more than $100 million in cap space in 2027 after accounting for the 2026 and 2027 draft classes.

New contracts for potential 2027 free agents De’Von Achane, Aaron Brewer and Jordyn Brooks would chip away some at that 2027 space. But those three players’ combined $18 million cap charges for 2026 (including $10.8 million for Brewer) don’t necessarily need to be enormously higher in 2027 because teams have flexibility in how they structure deals. They will be higher, but don’t need to be astronomically higher.

Keep in mind that Buffalo running back James Cook — whose four-year, $48 million extension last August was a bit less than what Achane likely can command — is seeing his Bills cap hit rise from $3.4 million last year to just $5.9 million in 2026 (the first year of the extension), with a jump to $13 million in 2027.

So the Dolphins could be operating with $80 million or more in 2027 space even after potentially re-signing Achane, Brewer, Brooks and keeping their other starters under contract in 2027 (including Mallik Willis, Patrick Paul and Zach Sieler) and retaining all their players on rookie contracts, plus accounting for this year’s and next year’s draft classes.

Austin Jackson’s $12.9 million 2027 Dolphins void year cap hit — if he’s not re-signed for 2027 — is already baked into the Dolphins’ cap commitments for 2027 and doesn’t come out of that $80 million space scenario. (Void year cap hits are cap charges for players no longer under contract at that time.)

The $5.7 million void year hit for Brooks and $9.6 million for Brewer also are already factored into Miami’s 2027 books. So are $3.7 million and $1.4 million void year hits for Achane and Greg Dulcich, the final two among the five players with 2027 void year cap charges.

So Miami will have significant 2027 cap space to fill needs that aren’t addressed in this year’s or next year’s draft and potentially give a lucrative extension to Paul. But also keep in mind that Sullivan has said that if he’s going to splurge in free agency, it will be selective and for genuine difference makers

If Willis and Quinn Ewers impress, the Dolphins won’t need to spend any of that 2027 cap space on a backup quarterback. They won’t need to spend any on backup running backs if Jaylen Wright and Ollie Gordon Jr. play well; they will both still be on rookie deals in 2027. They won’t need to spend much on positions addressed successfully in next month’s draft.

So while much has been made about the Dolphins’ insanely high dead money cap charges in 2026, the other key part of the story is that Sullivan and Brandon Shore, the team’s senior vice president/football and business administration, have left the team in a very good cap position in 2027 and beyond.

If Willis thrives as a starter, the Dolphins will have him on reasonable cap hits of $5.7 million, $25.9 million and $26.9 million the next three seasons — below most starting QBs. If he doesn’t work out as a starter, Miami will draft a quarterback and have him on a relatively low-money rookie deal for four years.

Sullivan wants Dolphins drafts to be the core of this roster, and players selected in his first two drafts will be under contract on reasonably-priced rookie deals through 2029 and 2030, respectively. Though Sullivan obviously needs to hit on the picks, it’s a sensible way to construct a roster, and one that leaves Miami with plenty of cap room to selectively target pricey free agents when the team zeroes in on one.

Dolphins dead money hits for 2026, per overthecap.com

Tua Tagovailoa: $55,400,000

Tyreek Hill: $28,248,750

Jaylen Waddle: $23,228,128

Jalen Ramsey: $20,868,000

Minkah Fitzpatrick: $12,996,000

Bradley Chubb: $10,972,742

Terron Armstead: $10,732,750

James Daniels: $4,800,000

Zach Wilson: $3,800,000

Alec Ingold: $1,995,000

Jonnu Smith: $1,650,000

Nick Westbrook-Ikhine: $1,600,000

Matt Judon: $1,360,000

Jason Sanders: $663,000

Cam Smith: $527,897

Mohamed Kamara: $160,436

TOTAL: $179,204,257