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Dolphins Salary Cap 2013 Post June 1 Cuts

The Miami Dolphins salary cap picture changed drastically yesterday, with June 1st Cuts Karlos Dansby and Kevin Burnett finally coming off the board. Here's a look at the current standing for the team.

Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

At the start of free agency back in March, the Miami Dolphins released linebackers Karlos Dansby and Kevin Burnett. However, using a new designation within the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the team declared both of those releases as "June 1st Cuts," meaning the team would continue to carry their full salary on the books, and against the salary cap, until June 2.

That meant that Miami had Dansby's $8.375 million and Burnett's $5.6 million counting against the salary cap, despite both players having already signed with new teams. Now that we have passed June 2, the Dolphins essentially gained over $10 million in salary cap space.

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That additional space gives Miami the seventh most amount of cap room in the league. And, that's despite the team's free agent spending spree this offseason.

Here's a breakdown of the team's salary cap picture. All salary cap numbers are via Spotract.com and OvertheCap.com.

2013 NFL Salary Cap $123,000,000
Miami 2012 Salary Cap Rollover $5,380,246
Miami 2013 Salary Cap $128,380,246

In the offseason and preseason, the NFL only counts the top 51 contracts on each team's roster, despite the team being allowed to carry up to 90 players. Currently, Miami has a full 90, although 16 of them still have undisclosed contract terms, and three are unsigned draft picks (marked with an asterisk).

Cap Number
1 Randy Starks $8,450,000
2 Paul Soliai $7,375,000
3 Richard Marshall $5,766,666
4 Brent Grimes $5,500,000
5 Richie Incognito $5,383,334
6 Cameron Wake $5,015,000
7 Dimitri Patterson $4,600,000
8 Dustin Keller $4,250,000
9 Tyson Clabo $3,500,000
10 Mike Wallace $3,200,000
11 Dan Carpenter $3,012,500
12 Ryan Tannehill $2,879,205
13 Chris Clemons $2,750,000
14 Mike Pouncey $2,525,371
15 Matt Moore $2,500,000
16 Dannell Ellerbe $2,425,000
17 Philip Wheeler $2,400,000
18 Brian Hartline $2,115,000
19 Jared Odrick $1,939,868
20 Brandon Gibson $1,785,000
21 Vaughn Martin $1,675,000
22 Brandon Fields $1,645,000
23 Lance Louis $1,603,750
24 John Jerry $1,537,625
25 Reshad Jones $1,363,075
26 Austin Spitler $1,323,000
27 Nate Garner $1,266,666
28 Koa Misi $1,186,905
29 Jonathan Martin $1,087,333
30 John Denney $1,013,750
31 Jason Trusnik $915,000
32 Daniel Thomas $882,652
33 Nolan Carroll $677,939
34 Olivier Vernon $669,520
35 Jamar Taylor $659,300
36 Michael Egnew $652,239
37 RJ Stanford $630,000
38 Lamar Miller $601,500
39 Charles Clay $583,000
40 Jimmy Wilson $566,475
41 Will Yeatman $555,000
42 Jelani Jenkins $523,172
43 Dion Sims $521,888
44 Kheeston Randall $495,612
45 Lee Robinson $495,000
46 Rishard Matthews $493,403
47 Derrick Shelby $483,333
48 Marcus Thigpen $482,500
49 Armon Binns $480,000
50 Marvin McNutt $480,000
51 Jonathan Freeny $480,000
52 Pat Devlin $480,000
53 DeAndre Presley $480,000
54 Kyle Miller $480,000
55 Josh Kaddu $480,000
56 Josh Samuda $480,000
57 Jorvorskie Lane $480,000
58 Mike Gillislee $445,700
59 Caleb Sturgis $441,140
60 Don Jones $416,474
61 Kelcie McCray $408,333
62 Jeff Fuller $405,000
63 Jonas Gray $405,000
64 Andrew McDonald $405,000
65 Julian Posey $405,000
66 Brian Thomas $405,000
67 Jeff Adams $405,000
68 Brian Tyms $405,000
69 Chandler Burden $405,000
70 Aaron Corp $405,000
71 Courtney Gardner $405,000
72 Chris Barker
73 Sam Brenner
74 Rupert Bryan
75 Chad Bumphis
76 Chris Burnette
77 Michael Clay
78 Jasper Collins
79 A.J. Francis
80 Alonzo Highsmith
81 David Hinds
82 Keelan Johnson
83 Jordan Kovacs
84 Ina Liaina
85 Cameron Marshall
86 Tristan Okpalaugo
87 Emeka Onyenekwu
88 Dion Jordan*
89 Dallas Thomas*
90 Will Davis*

Now that we have the full 90 man roster, we can start to do the math to figure out exactly how much space Miami has remaining this year. First, we start with the Top 51 salaries:

2013 Dolphins Salary Cap $128,380,246
2013 Dolphins Top 51 Salaries $103,401,581
Interim Space Remaining $24,978,665

Next, we have to calculate the dead money sitting on the Dolphins' books. Dead money is any bonus or guaranteed money that has not been accounted for against a salary cap number in previous years if a player is released or traded. When a player signs his contract, his signing bonus is split equally over the life of the contract for salary cap purposes, but is accelerated into the current league year when a player is released (or split over two seasons if the release takes place after June 1). Then, any guaranteed money that is given to the player, but has not been paid when he is released or traded will also be counted against the cap

For the Dolphins in 2013, the dead money currently looks like:

Player Dead Money
Karlos Dansby $2,325,000
Jake Long $1,600,000
Kevin Burnett $1,250,000
Vontae Davis $1,111,250
Davone Bess $750,000
Clyde Gates $226,576
Josh Kaddu $140,055
BJ Cunningham $79,650
Kevyn Scott $6,000
Chas Alecxih $5,000
Jeff Fuller $5,000
Jarrell Root $3,334
Jacquies Smith $3,334
Derek Moye $3,334
Dustin Waldron $3,334
Terrell Sinkfield $2,500
Taylor Stockemer $2,000
Shelly Lyons $2,000
Les Brown $1,667
Clay Belton $1,000
Robert McCabe $1,000
Andrew McDonald $334

Now, we can add that into our salary cap calculations:

2013 Dolphins Salary Cap $128,380,246
2013 Dolphins Top 51 Salaries $103,401,581
2013 Dolphins Dead Money $7,522,368
2013 Salary Cap Space Remaining $17,456,297

With that $17.5 million, Miami still has to sign their three remaining rookies. The Dolphins were assigned the largest rookie salary pool this year, an NFL assigned maximum and minimum dollar amount that the team uses to sign their draft picks. That amount is the total the team can give to players in the first year of their contract. Miami was given a pool of between $5,200,912 and $7,839,986 this year.

So far, the Dolphins have spent $3,007,674 on their first year rookie signings. That means they have between $2,193,238 and $4,832,312 left to sign Dion Jordan, Dallas Thomas, and Will Davis.

Assuming they use the entire amount, Miami currently has $12,623,985 remaining in salary cap space for this year. That money will be used to sign players during training camp and the season if injuries require it. It can also be used to re-sign players who are scheduled to become free agents after this season. Finally, any dollar amount not used this year will be rolled over into next year's salary cap, giving the Dolphins more space in 2014.

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