With the last game of the season on Sunday and the offseason fast approaching, I thought it was an excellent time to try and get down to the bottom of the Miami Dolphins salary cap situation. With multiple sources claiming the salary cap is anything from $40 million to $60 million, lets take a look at the salary cap hits for every dolphins player contracted to the Miami Dolphins in 2013:
Player |
Position |
2013 Salary Cap Hit |
Karlos Dansby |
LB |
7,975,000 |
DT |
7,625,000 |
|
CB |
5,766,667 |
|
Kevin Burnett |
LB |
5,700,000 |
CB |
5,600,000 |
|
G |
5,383,333 |
|
DE/LB |
5,015,000 |
|
WR |
3,433,000 |
|
K |
3,012,500 |
|
QB |
2,878,341 |
|
C |
2,525,371 |
|
DE |
1,939,868 |
|
LB |
1,131,905 |
|
P |
1,100,000 |
|
OT |
1,087,333 |
|
LS |
1,013,750 |
|
LB |
915,000 |
|
RB |
882,717 |
|
G |
789,625 |
|
DE |
639,520 |
|
TE |
627,239 |
|
CB |
622,937 |
|
S |
615,075 |
|
RB |
601,500 |
|
TE |
583,250 |
|
CB/S |
566,475 |
|
DT |
495,612 |
|
WR |
492,848 |
|
DE |
480,000 |
|
TE |
480,000 |
|
C |
480,000 |
|
FB |
480,000 |
|
WR |
480,000 |
|
T |
465,000 |
The above information was taken from spotrac.com. The total salary for the 34 players signed up in 2013 is $71,883,866. NFL.com claims that the 2013 salary cap will be around $121 million.
Now, before the fantasy talk begins on which free agents we should sign, there's a couple of things to bear in mind. The most obvious, and initially startling, salary cap hit is that of Dimitri Patterson. He's due to earn $5.6 million in 2013. But don't worry. We aren't tied to this cap hit in 2013. We can cut him at the end of the season and he won't earn a dime. Instead, if Jeff Ireland wants to keep him, it's likely Patterson will have to renegotiate his salary. If Dimitri Patterson is cut, our salary cap space will be $54,716,134.
The second thing to keep in mind is the dead money that comes off the salary cap. In 2013, $469,205 will be counted against the cap as dead money from the contracts of Josh Kaddu ($140,055), BJ Cunningham ($79,650), Clyde Gates ($249,500). While Josh Kaddu is still on the team, we did cut him and placed him on the practice squad before bringing back onto the 53 man roster. With this dead money in mind, our salary cap comes down to $48,646,929, and will be $54,246,929 if Patterson is cut.
The third and final thing to keep in mind is the 2014 cap hits and beyond. 2014 will be Karlos Dansby's and Kevin Burnett's final year of their current contract. Dansby is due to earn $10.975 million, while Burnett is due to earn $7 million. That means Dansby's contract jumps up by $3 million between 2013 and 2014, while Burnett's jumps up from $1.3 million. This matters because we have to keep in mind these jumps in salary before we hand out lavish contracts. Plus we have guys like Koa Misi and Reshad Jones, among others, who will need their contracts renewed. I'm not saying we can't afford to hand out one big contract if needs be, but not multiple as we have contracts down the road to deal with. Don't think big free agent signings are Philbin's style, either.
So there we go! I hope this brings a bit more clarity as to what the cap situation is in 2013. We have a healthy amount of cash to play around with and really can get things going next year. We should all be optimistic for the season ahead. With that in mind, what would you like to see Jeff Ireland do with the cash? Which players should we sign in free agency? Which of our own players should we re-sign?