2024 Cap Space Explanations | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

2024 Cap Space Explanations

E30M3

E30M3

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It is not doom and gloom. Please do this.

1. Get a beer, vodka, edible, tea.
2. Go here. SEe that big ugly red number, terrifying. We are so f*cked. *Wiggles fingers spookily*

Miami Dolphins Salary Cap | Over the Cap

Miami Dolphins salary cap, contracts, bonus money, dead money, and cap savings for every player
overthecap.com
3. This is the shifting number so far for the 2024 cap: $242mm. This is also expected to move up as we move forward.
4. Now that we've established a grasp of the big bad number and how it may move and also where we CURRENTLY stand in relation, let's start with a general sense of what the Dolphins can shore up from easy moves. I am just using tweets here because it is a bit easier than going through every single contract. Perhaps if this thread requires we can go more in depth. This tweet explains simple moves.



What is 5ReasonsSports? Very smart group of dudes who like reading contracts. Nerds. Doing things you don't want to.


It basically says our easy picking restructures, things we can easily convert that will not cause future pain can free up 23mm for '24. Maximum restructures, where a lot of people start getting bent out of shape, we could buy the entire FA.

Hopefully this one tweet will make you feel slightly better. If not and you do not know this man, meet Brandon Shore.


Mr. Shore is the Dolphins cap guru. He is the reason we have not been in any kind of cap handcuffs, for well... Ever since he took over.

dolphinswire.usatoday.com

14 former Dolphins make up over $15 million in dead cap entering 2023

The Miami Dolphins have made some extremely smart financial decisions over the last few years due to the extensive work of general manager Chris Grier and cap guru Brandon Shore. However, even teams that make the right moves and investments will still end up accounting…
dolphinswire.usatoday.com

So just in quick closing, we have plenty of space and that is without doing things like freeing up other things like Howard or Armsteads salaries or other things mentioned today. Plenty of space available guys to sign whomever we want.
 
Thanks for putting this together. That 23 mil is nothing as we are 40 million ish over, even if the cap expands to 240 ish. I'd like to see which players would get restructured and how to get that extra 60 mil to make it up to 83 mil.
 
BahamaFinFan78 said:
Thanks for putting this together. That 23 mil is nothing as we are 40 million ish over, even if the cap expands to 240 ish. I'd like to see which players would get restructured and how to get that extra 60 mil to make it up to 83 mil.
Click to expand...
Mindtornado said:
Great job. Great thread. Us laymen appreciate you.

Restructures though?
Click to expand...

Oh you guys want some more money????? Greedy bastards! Fine!

 
nicely done

That fisher contract and or decision to bring him leaves a mark
 
Mindtornado said:
Great job. Great thread. Us laymen appreciate you.

Restructures though?
Click to expand...
The reason I mention restructures is because it will be a mix this year. I know no one likes big restructures, but they are necessary sometimes. Contracts like Ramsey's. This one may be an albatross later on in life. I don't want to get into why or shoulds here. Just putting info out. There's a couple options on this site that are sure to cause some controversy, but again, just info on how we get space.


1standphins.com

How The Dolphins Can Get Under The Cap

Miami Dolphins general manager Chris Grier , left, and head coach Mike McDaniel, right, speaks at a news conference during the NFL football draft Saturday, April 29, 2023, at the football team’s tr…
1standphins.com 1standphins.com

Max Restructure Jalen Ramsey

When Miami revised Ramsey’s contract after getting him from the Rams last off-season, they knew they would have some cap issues the following year. Luckily, they structured Ramsey’s contract to save $18.2 million this year without causing a huge impact on next year’s cap (just $6.1 million).

Cap space after restructuring Ramsey: $26.2 million
 
kangphin said:
I just hope they clear enough space to tag and trade Wilkins
Click to expand...
Im a big Wilkins fan, but I love this option for draft capital from some needy teams with good picks.

  • Round 1 (own pick)
  • Round 1 (from Houston Texans)
  • Round 2 (own pick)
  • Round 3 (own pick)
  • Round 3 (from Houston Texans)
  • Round 3 (from Tennessee Titans)
  • Round 4 (own)
  • Round 5 (own)
  • Round 5 (from Philadelphia Eagles)
  • Round 5 (from Houston Texans)
  • Round 7 (from New York Giants)
 
There are a lot of moving parts here... let's start with the most difficult piece-- Armstead.

There are a couple of retirement specific differences if he chooses to retire. I don't think he will, but I guess his body might be telling him so.

First of all, 5M of his salary for NEXT year is guaranteed. He gets that if we cut him, but doesn't if he voluntarily retires.
Also, if he retires, the team can opt to make him repay about 7m of his signing bonus money (the Barry Sanders rule). But this is an 'option', not a surety... and even if we do opt to demand repayment, I'm honesty not sure how this factors in to our salary cap... this year or in 2025. I suspect we'd get relief... but not immediately.
An additional factor is the fact that this can be negotiated. If T.A. were to tell the team he wanted to retire, the team might offer to forgo the repayment since he was forgoing the 5m guaranteed.

So... there are a lot of moving parts in just this one player.

As a guess... and it IS a guess. I think we'd make his retirement a post June designation (yes, a retirement can be designated as post June) and we'd save about 9m against the cap.

Yes... TA could retire, lose the 5m and have to repay the bonus... but that would be REALLY bad business sense and I can't imagine him doing this.

Or he could continue to play... and that's just one player.

I've consistently said... Ogbah 13.8, Baker 9.9, Crossen 3.2, and Howard 18.5 (post June) are the only slam dunk cuts... some of the other lists have us dumping cheap back up players and I really dont expect that level of penny pinching, you have to have backups.

So. These four cuts get us to about 5 under... which will take care of our draft class and leave us with about 50 players (remember, we signed the better PS players to future contracts yesterday).

So... signing any of our own FAs will come at the cost of restructuring... poison for future years.

Yes... it's going to be ugly.
 
So after post June cuts they are $5 million under and need a starting Cb and starting MLb. They also need a rotational DE b/c they lose Ogbah.

FAs for 2024
1. Tagging Wilkins is $20 mil
2. Hunt - PFF ranked him 6th out of 80 Nfl OGs. Contract Projection: Four years, $70
million ($17.5 million per year), $42 million total guaranteed
3. Connor Williams- PFF ranked him 1st out of 37 OCs but he is coming off ACL tear,
Contract Projection: One year, $6 million, $3 million total guaranteed
4. Van Ginkel- as a rotational piece tis past season, PFF ranked him 8th out of 116 Edges
Contract Projection: Two years, $13 million ($6.5 million per year), $8 million total
guaranteed
5. Robert Jones- PFF ranked him as middle of the pack OG

So they have 5 million which will go towards draft picks, which leaves them with restructuring to sign any FA’s, whether it be their own or other teams former players.

What I see as max restructuring for the Dolphins is closer to $50 million and not $83 that the OP reported. You can‘t restructure X, Ogbah and Baker if you are going to cut them? 😂
You don’t restructure Armstead if he is contemplating retirement. 😂 That leaves you to restructure Hill $12,370,000, Ramsey $18,217,500, Chubb (coming off injury) $14,043,750 and Sieler $4,690,000, which puts you at around $50 Million. I believe Hill, Ramsey and Chubb restructured last year, so that is more salary cap money being deferred over the future 3 seasons to those 3, if they so choose to do it again.

Say they do the restructures and want to tag Wilkins and trade him. Thats 20 mil of the 50 used to tag Wilkins when season starts. The only way this works is if the have a deal in place as the season starts and then can pivot and use the $20 million on top tier FA’s. If they tag him to start the year and cannot find a trade partner right away, they will end up getting 2nd and 3rd tier FAs because they cant use the tagged money until they actually trade him. What if they don't like the trade compensation they are getting for him and decdie to keep him for the 2024 season @ $20 mil? 😂 , that would leave the Dolphins with $30 million left.

Needs for 2024 with 30 million left or $50 if they find a trade partner for Wilkins

-Their top2 OLBs (Phillips and Chubb) will not be ready by the start of the 2024 season and
their top rotational guy in Van Ginkel is a FA. So to start the season they have no OLBs
-Need a starting OC to replace Williams, a starting RG to replace Jones and a starting LG to
replace Hunt
-On defense they need to replace starters at CB (Howard), MLB (Baker) and maybe DE (Wilkins)

That’s 6, possibly 7 starters and 3 OLBs to start the season with and you have between 30 and 50 million to use. Thats what about 5 or 6 million per player. You have also created more future cap problems by kicking the can down the road.

They have a late 1st and late 2nd round draft pick and then have to wait till the late 5th to make their 3rd selection in the draft, they will be lucky to find and fill 1 starting position from the draft.

After all this, they still have to find depth at CB, OLB, MLB and safety on defense and OL, Wr and TE on offense.

NICE ***** JOB Mr. Grier!!!
 
Feverdream said:
There are a lot of moving parts here... let's start with the most difficult piece-- Armstead.

There are a couple of retirement specific differences if he chooses to retire. I don't think he will, but I guess his body might be telling him so.

First of all, 5M of his salary for NEXT year is guaranteed. He gets that if we cut him, but doesn't if he voluntarily retires.
Also, if he retires, the team can opt to make him repay about 7m of his signing bonus money (the Barry Sanders rule). But this is an 'option', not a surety... and even if we do opt to demand repayment, I'm honesty not sure how this factors in to our salary cap... this year or in 2025. I suspect we'd get relief... but not immediately.
An additional factor is the fact that this can be negotiated. If T.A. were to tell the team he wanted to retire, the team might offer to forgo the repayment since he was forgoing the 5m guaranteed.

So... there are a lot of moving parts in just this one player.

As a guess... and it IS a guess. I think we'd make his retirement a post June designation (yes, a retirement can be designated as post June) and we'd save about 9m against the cap.

Yes... TA could retire, lose the 5m and have to repay the bonus... but that would be REALLY bad business sense and I can't imagine him doing this.

Or he could continue to play... and that's just one player.

I've consistently said... Ogbah 13.8, Baker 9.9, Crossen 3.2, and Howard 18.5 (post June) are the only slam dunk cuts... some of the other lists have us dumping cheap back up players and I really dont expect that level of penny pinching, you have to have backups.

So. These four cuts get us to about 5 under... which will take care of our draft class and leave us with about 50 players (remember, we signed the better PS players to future contracts yesterday).

So... signing any of our own FAs will come at the cost of restructuring... poison for future years.

Yes... it's going to be ugly.
Click to expand...
Thanks for helping i tiny brain understand where we are cap wise.
 
E30M3 said:
It is not doom and gloom. Please do this.

1. Get a beer, vodka, edible, tea.
2. Go here. SEe that big ugly red number, terrifying. We are so f*cked. *Wiggles fingers spookily*

Miami Dolphins Salary Cap | Over the Cap

Miami Dolphins salary cap, contracts, bonus money, dead money, and cap savings for every player
overthecap.com
3. This is the shifting number so far for the 2024 cap: $242mm. This is also expected to move up as we move forward.
4. Now that we've established a grasp of the big bad number and how it may move and also where we CURRENTLY stand in relation, let's start with a general sense of what the Dolphins can shore up from easy moves. I am just using tweets here because it is a bit easier than going through every single contract. Perhaps if this thread requires we can go more in depth. This tweet explains simple moves.



What is 5ReasonsSports? Very smart group of dudes who like reading contracts. Nerds. Doing things you don't want to.


It basically says our easy picking restructures, things we can easily convert that will not cause future pain can free up 23mm for '24. Maximum restructures, where a lot of people start getting bent out of shape, we could buy the entire FA.

Hopefully this one tweet will make you feel slightly better. If not and you do not know this man, meet Brandon Shore.


Mr. Shore is the Dolphins cap guru. He is the reason we have not been in any kind of cap handcuffs, for well... Ever since he took over.

dolphinswire.usatoday.com

14 former Dolphins make up over $15 million in dead cap entering 2023

The Miami Dolphins have made some extremely smart financial decisions over the last few years due to the extensive work of general manager Chris Grier and cap guru Brandon Shore. However, even teams that make the right moves and investments will still end up accounting…
dolphinswire.usatoday.com

So just in quick closing, we have plenty of space and that is without doing things like freeing up other things like Howard or Armsteads salaries or other things mentioned today. Plenty of space available guys to sign whomever we want.
Click to expand...

Nice post, brother. Not a big 5reasons fan, but that's not really relevant to the cap info.

There's a lack of context, and some numbers that either don't add up, or seem maybe are counted twice as two different options.

Nonetheless, it's an excellent starting point for discussion.

First thing to do is distinguish between "possible", "probable", and "smart".

A lot of things are possible. Doesn't mean it's a good idea. Also what's a "good idea" is subjective too. Someone all in next year would make different choices than someone looking at longer term cap health.
 
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