The 2019 season for the Dolphins was all about creating cap space and spending flexibility. The 2020 offseason was all about testing it out. And now, looking forward, the Dolphins are still in an advantageous spot for their long-term spending — even if they are no longer in the pole position.
Over The Cap ranks the Dolphins 13th in current salary cap space, with a projected $53M in room and 54 players set to be under contract. But the Dolphins, by the time it is all said and done, may rank even higher than that. No, the Dolphins do not have a lot of options to trade or cut players and manufacture more space, but they also don’t have a lot of players that will be pressing to resign, either. The key pending free agents for the Dolphins at this point in time are:
- QB Ryan Fitzpatrick
- RB Matt Breida
- IOL Ted Karras
- DL Davon Godchaux
- LB Raekwon McMillan
Given Fitzpatrick’s age and the presence of Tua Tagovailoa, it isn’t likely that we’ll see him back in 2021. Among the rest of the group, none of the Dolphins are players that the team will need to “break the bank” for. Alternatively, some of the teams ahead of the Dolphins in current cap projections are going to have heavy lifting ahead of them to retain their core.
The Denver Broncos, for example, rank ahead of Miami and are projected to own $55M in cap space. But the team will need to resign SAF Justin Simmons, who is set to play this year on the franchise tag. Simmons’ pay is likely to exceed $12M per season — he alone will cost more than two or three of Miami’s potential signings; assuming that Miami even commits to bringing these players back.
Tampa Bay is projected to own $63M in cap space next season, but they’ll quickly fall behind the Dolphins if they decide to resign their available talent, which includes LB Shaq Barrett (nearly 20 sacks in 2019), LB Lavonte David, TE Rob Gronkowski, IDL Ndamukong Suh, WR Chris Godwin and others.
By the time free agency rolls around next spring, the Dolphins should be situated with one of the league’s top 10 highest spending windows — unless of course they choose to come out of left field and bring on a big money talent somewhere else along the way.