{"id":329782,"date":"2025-08-30T22:59:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-30T22:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/329782\/"},"modified":"2025-08-30T22:59:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T22:59:08","slug":"dolphins-salary-cap-breakdown-by-position","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/329782\/","title":{"rendered":"Dolphins’ salary cap breakdown by position"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Miami Dolphins<\/a>, along with every other NFL team, can spend no more than $279.2 million in 2025 to stay under the league’s salary cap. With the regular season set to start, the Dolphins are right at that limit.<\/p>\n

According to Over The Cap<\/a>, Miami is near the bottom of the NFL in available cap space. That’s due, in part, to more than $56.4 million in “dead money” spending dedicated to players no longer on the roster. Leading the way in that category are cornerbacks Xavien Howard and Jalen Ramsey, who count $15.7 million and $15 million against the Dolphins’ salary cap, respectively, despite suiting up elsewhere.<\/p>\n

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So where is the other $220 million being allocated? Here’s a breakdown of the Dolphins’ spending at each position:<\/p>\n

Quarterback ($42.25 million)<\/p>\n

The Dolphins dished out a fully guaranteed $6 million deal to backup Zach Wilson, who will count $2.2 million against Miami’s salary cap this season and $3.8 million next year. But it’s starter Tua Tagovailoa’s massive contract that’s eating a whopping $39.2 million of the Dolphins’ cap space this season.<\/p>\n

Running back ($9.56 million)<\/p>\n

More than half of the backfield spending is actually dedicated to a fullback, Alec Ingold, whose $4.82 million cap hit is included in this total. Starter De’Von Achane is eligible for an extension during the 2026 offseason.<\/p>\n

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Wide receiver ($40.26 million)<\/p>\n

The Dolphins have several cheap receivers on the depth chart, but starters Tyreek Hill ($27.7 million) and Jaylen Waddle ($8.02 million) combine to be one of the league’s most expensive pass catching duos.<\/p>\n

Tight end ($4.63 million)<\/p>\n

Miami balked at redoing Jonnu Smith’s deal when the tight end was jockeying for a pay raise after a Pro Bowl season. After trading the veteran to the Steelers, the Dolphins replaced him with a significantly cheaper option in Darren Waller, who counts just $2 million against the cap in 2025.<\/p>\n

Offensive line ($28.67 million)<\/p>\n

The Dolphins made the offensive line a top priority in March when they signed guard James Daniels to a three-year, $24 million deal in free agency. However, the majority of that deal will count against Miami’s cap in the next three seasons and just $2.69 million in 2025.<\/p>\n

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Defensive line ($16.72 million)<\/p>\n

Recently extended team captain Zach Sieler ($7.88 million) and first-round rookie Kenneth Grant ($3.99 million) combine for more than 70 percent of the salary cap spending on the defensive line.<\/p>\n

Linebacker ($46.0 million)<\/p>\n

Veterans Jaelan Phillips ($13.25 million), Bradley Chubb ($12.33 million), and Jordyn Brooks ($11.05 million) have the third, fourth, and fifth highest salary cap hits on the team, respectively.<\/p>\n

Cornerback ($11.86 million)<\/p>\n

The Dolphins are spending far more on their former star cornerbacks, Xavien Howard and Jalen Ramsey, than the entire position group combined in 2025.<\/p>\n

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Safety ($11.87 million)<\/p>\n

A new contract for Minkah Fitzpatrick gave the safety the stability he wanted<\/a> in the form of a $16.2 million signing bonus<\/a>. But the deal also trimmed $11 million off his salary cap hit in 2025, which is now just $4.5 million.<\/p>\n

Specialists ($8.45 million)<\/p>\n

There’s currently no kicker on the Dolphins’ active roster as Jason Sanders, who has a $4.73 million cap hit, is currently on the injured reserve. Still, he counts for more than half of the salary cap obligations for the specialists trio.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Dolphins Wire: Dolphins’ salary cap breakdown by position<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Miami Dolphins, along with every other NFL team, can spend no more than $279.2 million in 2025…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329783,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2049],"tags":[1752,18700,4540,217,7,16251,1815,5855,18863,14706,7470,23817,1494,216,251,2087,7583,6,7238,3235,3452,1089,10785,23816,1733],"class_list":{"0":"post-329782","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-dolphins","8":"tag-alec-ingold","9":"tag-bradley-chubb","10":"tag-darren-waller","11":"tag-dolphins","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-jaelan-phillips","14":"tag-jalen-ramsey","15":"tag-james-daniels","16":"tag-jason-sanders","17":"tag-jaylen-waddle","18":"tag-jonnu-smith","19":"tag-jordyn-brooks","20":"tag-kenneth-grant","21":"tag-miami","22":"tag-miami-dolphins","23":"tag-miamidolphins","24":"tag-minkah-fitzpatrick","25":"tag-nfl","26":"tag-salary-cap","27":"tag-the-dolphins","28":"tag-tua-tagovailoa","29":"tag-tyreek-hill","30":"tag-xavien-howard","31":"tag-zach-sieler","32":"tag-zach-wilson"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115120201205869669","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}