Stage One:The Early Years
As a player enters the NFL they do so as either a draft pick or an undrafted player. They are paid based on their draft status. Yet another scale. Years of a contract are slotted based on where a player is drafted. First rounders have a 5th year option while everyone else has four-year deals. Undrafted free agents typically sign three-year deals at the most.
Turnover at this stages is high as teams sign and release players all season long in this age group.
The Dolphins currently have 29 players in this age bracket making up the biggest portion of their roster. Of those 29 players 10 are full-time starters.
Laremy Tunsil – rookie contract
Jay Ajayi – rookie contract
Xavien Howard – rookie contract
Matt Darr – special teams
Andrew Franks – special teams
Ja’Wuan James – rookie contract
Jarvis Landry – rookie contract
DeVante Parker – rookie contract
Kenny Stills – impending free agent
Dion Sims – impending free agent
Stage Two:26-28 Years Old
The Miami Dolphins have 14 players in this age group (four of them on IR). Typically these are the players that are on their 2nd NFL contracts. They are normally players that are no longer developing but honing their skills as they reach for the peaks of their careers.
Eight of these 10 players are starters. Including 28-year-old Ryan Tannehill. Kiko Alonso is the youngest of the bunch and is coming off his rookie contract and will be an impending free agent in March. Andre Branch started much of the season as did Byron Maxwell. Mike Pouncey, Isa Abdul-Quddus, Jordan Cameron, and Reshad Jones are all starters who finished the season on IR.
When comparing these players age to salaries to production it gets a little harder due to the injured members of the team. Five of these players are paid in the top 10 of the Dolphins salary cap. Tannehill is the highest and will count $20 million against the cap
The Final Stages
The Dolphins are one of the youngest teams in the NFL for a reason. only 14 players are above the age of 29 and nine of those are over the age of 30. Not all of those 14 are expected back on the roster when the 2017 season kicks off.
T.J. Yates was added as insurance to Matt Moore, Matt Moore has one year left on his deal and is expected back. Mario Williams is not. Of the 14 29 and over, only six players were non-injury replacement starters. Ndamukong Suh, Branden Albert, Earl Mitchell, Jermon Bushrod, Cameron Wake, and John Denney.
Of those starters only Suh, Wake, Albert, and Bushrod were very good in 2016. Conversely the Patriots have 12 players on their roster currently over the age of 29. Almost all of them are high contributors to the team.
This is not an area that the Dolphins need to improve in. The team must get better in the 25-28 range so those players grow into stage three and maybe stage four. Where Miami’s problem lies however is that they have no back-up plans for this groups eventual departure from the team.
