Mario Williams Salary And Cap Numbers For Dolphins Reported

The Miami Dolphins announced the signing of former Buffalo Bills defensive end Mario Williams to a two-year deal yesterday. The deal was initially reported as a two-year deal in the $8 million a year range. If the reports this morning are correct then those initial reports are close to dead on. It was widely reported that Williams was initially looking for a deal of at least $10 million a season.

Williams was originally drafted by the Houston Texans in 2006 and given a rookie deal for six years and worth $54 million. Willams impressed in his first four seasons with the Texans but ended both the 2010 and 2011 seasons on injured reserve. The Texans allowed Mario to become a free agent in during the 2012 offseason that saw the Buffalo Bills step up to the plate, signing Willams to a then-NFL record deal for a defensive player. The Bills gave Mario a deal worth up to $100 million for 6 years with $49.5 million guaranteed.

Given those numbers, Williams signed his first two deals with averages of $9 million a year and $16.66 million a year respectively. According to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle, the current two-year deal for Williams with the Dolphins is for a $17 million total. The breakdown is as follows: $4 million signing bonus with salaries of $4.485 million in 2016 and $8.485 million in 2017 with a $15,000 annual workout bonus. The 2016 salary is fully guaranteed with $3.5 million of the 2017 salary guaranteed for injury upon signing with the full dollar amount of the 2017 salary guaranteed if still on the roster on the fifth day of the 2017 league year.

That works out to a $6.5 million cap number in 2016 and $10.5 million cap number in 2017.

So give us your thoughts on the deal. Do you think that Miami got a steal at only $8.5 million a season? Did we overpay for a player that will be 33 as the end of his two-year deal? Do you think we should have passed on Williams and gone with the younger Olivier Vernon?