:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/29788017/20131117_gav_al9_113.0.jpg)
Things could be about to get expensive around the Miami Dolphins. With reports that the team has an "unofficial" agreement in place with offensive tackle Branden Albert, a deal which is set to be signed shortly after the start of free agency tomorrow, and the possibility that Miami is also looking to pursue safety Jairus Byrd, the team is again set to dole out the money.
It appears a large portion of the Miami salary cap could be heading to the safety position, if Byrd were to join the club. According to ESPN's James Walker, Byrd is expected to be looking for a contract that pays him $9-million a season.
The Dolphins last year signed Reshad Jones to a contract extension that keeps him with the team through 2017. That deal averages $7-million per season. If Miami were to sign Byrd at the $9-million level, they would be spending $16-million per season on the safety position, or 12-percent of the $133 million salary cap this season. If the Dolphins were to pay $16-million to the safety position, they would exceed the 2014 highest spending on the position (Seattle) by a team by $1.2 million - and that would just be the starting two safeties.
Of course, that percentage is based purely on average numbers. Dolphins contract guru Dawn Aponte can work the numbers into something more manageable for the team. For example, this season, Jones will only count $3.6-million against the cap, with those numbers increasing to $7.76-million, $8.25-million, and $8.085-million over the last three years of the deal.
Byrd agreeing to a deal with the Dolphins would be a highly exciting signing in the 2014, and would provide the team with a dominating duo in the secondary. The franchise would have to be willing to fork out the money though. Is $16-million per season too much for the safety position?