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Miami Dolphins
1. Restructure Ndamukong Suh's contract. The only way the Dolphins could sign last year's most prominent free agent was by structuring his deal in a way that would allow them to pay a hefty signing bonus in the second year of the contract. It's somewhat similar to the way the Saints have built their free-agent deals in recent years, and when I'm referencing the Saints in terms of anything cap-related, it's never a compliment. This isn't a particularly clever strategy from the Dolphins, just a dangerous one.
And so, the vast majority of Suh's $23.9 million base salary will turn into a signing bonus. Let's say $20 million, to keep things simple. That will free up $16 million in cap space for the Dolphins this year while adding $4 million to Miami's cap over each of the next four seasons. Suh won't care; he gets a $20 million check now instead of that same $20 million spread over the NFL season. If the Dolphins want to move on from Suh before the end of the deal, though, whatever's left of that signing bonus accelerates onto their cap that year.
Suh's 2016 and 2017 base salaries are guaranteed, which would make cutting Suh a non-starter. In 2018, the Dolphins would pay $22.1 million if Suh was on their roster and ... $22.2 million if they decided to cut him. So that's out. The earliest the Dolphins realistically can move on from Suh would be 2019, at which point they would still owe $13.1 million in dead money. And Year 1 of the Suh experiment in Miami didn't exactly resound with critical acclaim. That's less a reflection of Suh and more on how desperate the Dolphins were to sign him.
2. Cut Greg Jennings and Brent Grimes. Could the Dolphins keep Suh without drastically restructuring his deal? It's possible, but increasingly unlikely, given that they'll want to try and bring back emerging defensive end Olivier Vernon, who quietly had a monstrous season. They'll need the still-to-be-decided cap to come in at the higher end of estimates, move on from the likes of Lamar Miller and clear out as much salary from the roster as possible. Dumping Jennings, who caught just 19 passes last year, is an obvious move that will save the Dolphins $4 million.
Grimes is a far tougher call. The former Pro Bowler is likely Miami's best cornerback, but he slipped badly last season, getting beaten repeatedly for big plays. Miami asks a lot of Grimes, but they were the worst team in the league by DVOA against No. 1 cornerbacks. The Dolphins could save $6.5 million by cutting the 32-year-old Grimes (or $8 million by designating him as a post-June 1 release), but that would leave them in need of another cornerback, which isn't exactly a cheap position to fill.
3. Franchise Olivier Vernon. On the other hand, if the Dolphins do drastically restructure Suh's deal, they could use the cap savings to lock up Vernon on a short-term deal while trying to negotiate a long-term extension. That should come in somewhere around $15 million. It would be an awfully large price to pay for a team that simply doesn't have much money to throw around, but losing a 25-year-old pass-rusher with as much upside as Vernon is even more of a problem.
4. Find a replacement running back for Lamar Miller. Much to the frustration of fantasy owners, the Dolphins never seemed to trust their starting running back, refusing to turn the ball over to Miller for heavy workloads despite his big-play ability and production in smaller samples. As an unrestricted free agent, Miller likely will find a more welcoming locale elsewhere, and we'll get to see if the Dolphins were right.
Miami seems set to turn things over to Jay Ajayi as its primary back, and while Ajayi has the sort of versatility to justify being on the field for all three downs, the Dolphins will need to bring in a second back as support for their sophomore starter. One cheap option -- and it has to be cheap -- would be Ronnie Hillman.
5. Hold on to draft picks. Executive vice president Mike Tannenbaum had a bad habit of trading draft picks away during his time with the Jets, both to trade up in drafts and acquire veterans. Last year, during Tannenbaum's first offseason with the team, they sent a third-round pick to the Saints as part of the deal that swapped Dannell Ellerbe for Kenny Stills; Stills subsequently caught 27 passes during his first year with the team. (To be fair, the Dolphins also acquired two fifth-rounders for a sixth-rounder when they traded down in the second round with the Eagles.)
Miami has all its picks this year, plus an extra seventh-rounder from the Ravens. With a perilously thin roster ravaged by cap issues and bad drafts, it needs all the cheap talent they can get.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/1...lls-dolphins-jets-patriots-make-offseason-nfl
1. Restructure Ndamukong Suh's contract. The only way the Dolphins could sign last year's most prominent free agent was by structuring his deal in a way that would allow them to pay a hefty signing bonus in the second year of the contract. It's somewhat similar to the way the Saints have built their free-agent deals in recent years, and when I'm referencing the Saints in terms of anything cap-related, it's never a compliment. This isn't a particularly clever strategy from the Dolphins, just a dangerous one.
And so, the vast majority of Suh's $23.9 million base salary will turn into a signing bonus. Let's say $20 million, to keep things simple. That will free up $16 million in cap space for the Dolphins this year while adding $4 million to Miami's cap over each of the next four seasons. Suh won't care; he gets a $20 million check now instead of that same $20 million spread over the NFL season. If the Dolphins want to move on from Suh before the end of the deal, though, whatever's left of that signing bonus accelerates onto their cap that year.
Suh's 2016 and 2017 base salaries are guaranteed, which would make cutting Suh a non-starter. In 2018, the Dolphins would pay $22.1 million if Suh was on their roster and ... $22.2 million if they decided to cut him. So that's out. The earliest the Dolphins realistically can move on from Suh would be 2019, at which point they would still owe $13.1 million in dead money. And Year 1 of the Suh experiment in Miami didn't exactly resound with critical acclaim. That's less a reflection of Suh and more on how desperate the Dolphins were to sign him.
2. Cut Greg Jennings and Brent Grimes. Could the Dolphins keep Suh without drastically restructuring his deal? It's possible, but increasingly unlikely, given that they'll want to try and bring back emerging defensive end Olivier Vernon, who quietly had a monstrous season. They'll need the still-to-be-decided cap to come in at the higher end of estimates, move on from the likes of Lamar Miller and clear out as much salary from the roster as possible. Dumping Jennings, who caught just 19 passes last year, is an obvious move that will save the Dolphins $4 million.
Grimes is a far tougher call. The former Pro Bowler is likely Miami's best cornerback, but he slipped badly last season, getting beaten repeatedly for big plays. Miami asks a lot of Grimes, but they were the worst team in the league by DVOA against No. 1 cornerbacks. The Dolphins could save $6.5 million by cutting the 32-year-old Grimes (or $8 million by designating him as a post-June 1 release), but that would leave them in need of another cornerback, which isn't exactly a cheap position to fill.
3. Franchise Olivier Vernon. On the other hand, if the Dolphins do drastically restructure Suh's deal, they could use the cap savings to lock up Vernon on a short-term deal while trying to negotiate a long-term extension. That should come in somewhere around $15 million. It would be an awfully large price to pay for a team that simply doesn't have much money to throw around, but losing a 25-year-old pass-rusher with as much upside as Vernon is even more of a problem.
4. Find a replacement running back for Lamar Miller. Much to the frustration of fantasy owners, the Dolphins never seemed to trust their starting running back, refusing to turn the ball over to Miller for heavy workloads despite his big-play ability and production in smaller samples. As an unrestricted free agent, Miller likely will find a more welcoming locale elsewhere, and we'll get to see if the Dolphins were right.
Miami seems set to turn things over to Jay Ajayi as its primary back, and while Ajayi has the sort of versatility to justify being on the field for all three downs, the Dolphins will need to bring in a second back as support for their sophomore starter. One cheap option -- and it has to be cheap -- would be Ronnie Hillman.
5. Hold on to draft picks. Executive vice president Mike Tannenbaum had a bad habit of trading draft picks away during his time with the Jets, both to trade up in drafts and acquire veterans. Last year, during Tannenbaum's first offseason with the team, they sent a third-round pick to the Saints as part of the deal that swapped Dannell Ellerbe for Kenny Stills; Stills subsequently caught 27 passes during his first year with the team. (To be fair, the Dolphins also acquired two fifth-rounders for a sixth-rounder when they traded down in the second round with the Eagles.)
Miami has all its picks this year, plus an extra seventh-rounder from the Ravens. With a perilously thin roster ravaged by cap issues and bad drafts, it needs all the cheap talent they can get.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/1...lls-dolphins-jets-patriots-make-offseason-nfl
