How bad are the contracts of the current Miami Dolphins roster? Enough that even if Jon-Eric Sullivan places calls to players’ agents with the hopes of finding some extra cap space, he won’t find much.<\/p>\n
There are a lot of decisions that will fall on the shoulders of the Dolphins’ new GM<\/a> before it ever falls far enough downhill to land on the shoulders of head coach Jeff Hafley. It’s a swirling flood of bloated contracts and poor decisions that have put the Dolphins in at least a two-year cap rebuild.<\/p>\n Miami is chugging along on a cap train that currently boasts over $30 miilion in overages. Add to this 34 impending free agents on a roster that can hold 90 in the offseason, and you start to see that the math doesn’t add up. <\/p>\n Jon-Eric Sullivan needs to make tough decisions with the Miami Dolphins spending money<\/p>\n Before he can start waving his ink pen around and chopping players off the roster, he can save some money by restructuring contracts. The Dolphins’ best options,<\/a> however, may not be options at all.<\/p>\n Player<\/p>\n Restructure savings<\/p>\n Minkah Fitzpatrick<\/p>\n $10.7 million<\/p>\n Jordyn Brooks<\/p>\n $4.9 million<\/p>\n Aaron Brewer<\/p>\n $3.9 million<\/p>\n Alec Ingold<\/p>\n $1.5 million<\/p>\n Jason Sanders<\/p>\n $1.4 million<\/p>\n Restructuring those five players would free $22 million in cap space, but only Brewer and Brooks should be considered as an option; they could also get new contracts entirely. Both were specifically mentioned by Sullivan as cornerstone players.<\/p>\n Looking at Ingold and Sanders, however, they were better served by outright release. Miami would save $3 million on Ingold and $3.9 million by cutting Sanders. The difference is that restructuring them avoids a dead-money hit.<\/p>\n