FanPost

A closer look at the 2013 Miami Dolphins Cap situation.


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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

Paul Soliai

DT

7,625,000

Richard Marshall

CB

5,766,667

Kevin Burnett

LB

5,700,000

Dimitri Patterson

CB

5,600,000

Richie Incognito

G

5,383,333

Cameron Wake

DE/LB

5,015,000

Davone Bess

WR

3,433,000

Dan Carpenter

K

3,012,500

Ryan Tannehill

QB

2,878,341

Mike Pouncey

C

2,525,371

Jared Odrick

DE

1,939,868

Koa Misi

LB

1,131,905

Brandon Fields

P

1,100,000

Jonathan Martin

OT

1,087,333

John Denney

LS

1,013,750

Jason Trusnik

LB

915,000

Daniel Thomas

RB

882,717

John Jerry

G

789,625

Olivier Vernon

DE

639,520

Michael Egnew

TE

627,239

Nolan Carroll

CB

622,937

Reshad Jones

S

615,075

Lamar Miller

RB

601,500

Charles Clay

TE

583,250

Jimmy Wilson

CB/S

566,475

Kheeston Randall

DT

495,612

Rishard Matthews

WR

492,848

Derrick Shelby

DE

480,000

Kyle Miller

TE

480,000

Josh Samuda

C

480,000

Jorvorskie Lane

FB

480,000

Armon Binns

WR

480,000

Will Yeatman

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?

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of The Phinsider's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of The Phinsider writers or editors.