Good Read on Suh/ Cap Situation (Grantland-Robert Mays)

[WesternNYDolfan]

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/b...nfls-offseason-champions-and-thats-dangerous/

Before free agency began, the Dolphins wouldn’t have been a popular choice for this year’s offseason champions. Miami’s cap was still riddled with the sins of its last spending spree, when it gave a combined $69.5 million guaranteed to Brian Hartline, Mike Wallace, Dannell Ellerbe, and Philip Wheeler in 2013. By early March, foreseeable cost-cutting moves put all of those players on borrowed time in Miami, but with the resulting dead money and the other substantial deals still on the Dolphins’ books,[SUP]1[/SUP] it seemed like teams flush with cap space would be more likely to make a big splash.

 

[Butterfrog 2.0]

In the article it says that with the moves Miami has made they are poised for a playoff push, but in 2016 it could be a different story as hard decisions will have to be made. I would think it would be the opposite. The team as is needs some work, but if guys like Tannehill, Stills, and Landry keep devloping, and the Phins draft well then I can only see them getting better.

 

[roy_miami]

Barnwell's article is better, even if its slightly more depressing.

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/free-agent-round-up-ndamukong-suh-miami-dolphins/

 

[LANGER72]

Instead of signing Clay, we should sign Mathis @7M.
The guard spot is a greater need to shore up the oline.
Billy Turner/D Thomas can battle for the other spot.

 

[broccoli rob]

Armando mentioned something interesting about Suh's cap situation in regard to Clay. Personally, i'd rather move on from Clay and take the majority of the Suh hit next year (getting it over with).

Well, if the Dolphins are of the mind to absolutely not lose Clay, they could conceivably opt to restructure the source of the pain, which is the Suh contract, and make it more salary cap friendly.

Yeah, this can be done.

The Dolphins could simply convert $22.7 million of Suh's $23.4 million base salary in 2016 into a new and guaranteed signing bonus before next spring. Doing that adds to the prorated portion of Suh's cap number in 2016, '17, '18, '19 and '20. It effectively raises his cap numbers in 2017-20 by $4.5 million each year.

But it lowers Suh's cap number next season, the all important 2016, from $28.6 million to $10.5 million. This, combined with an expected rise to the salary cap the Dolphins believe they have a good handle on suggests the math may work.

(Plus, there are again next offseason a number of contracts that Miami can jettison if the players don't perform at an extremely high level in 2015. led by tight end Jordan Cameron's second year of his two-year deal).

The math can work.

Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/dolp...-clay-if-they-dont-want-to.html#storylink=cpy

Point is, Suh's contract isn't set in stone. Dawn Aponte & co. can shift funds to make other moves more feasible.

 

[where's th'fish]

While we're at it, let's get all the depressing stuff out of the way:

http://overthecap.com/suhs-contract-cripples-the-dolphins/

It's mostly from Suh's perspective, but it has some interesting numbers about the cap% of Suh's contract per year vs the cap% of DTs and QBs on Super Bowl winners.

As to restructuring Suh next year, that would be nothing but an acknowledgment that they signed him to a bad contract. Any contract you have to restructure on year two is a bad deal and it only makes things worse down the line. Restructures are always to the player's advantage. Why do you think the Lions had to let Suh walk in the first place? Restructurings such as this.

 

[where's th'fish]

Here's some excerpts from the Barnwell article:

It’s good, of course, that the Dolphins are taking cap space that previously belonged to underperforming players and reallocating it to a superstar like Suh. The problem, though, is that you still have to replace those guys you’ve put on the street, and you don’t have that $18 million to work with in the process.
You can make up for that by having guys on rookie contracts playing meaningful roles elsewhere on the roster... The Dolphins simply don’t have those guys.

That’s why I don’t know whether the Dolphins should have signed Suh. In a vacuum, Suh is a colossus who would make any team better. In this reality, the impact of adding Suh could be countered by how his contract leaves the Dolphins pencil-thin at three or four other spots on defense.

As good a player as he is and as important as he can be on the interior of a defensive line, he can’t single-handedly drag a team to competence. It’s exceedingly unlikely that he can be a four- or five-win player on his own in the way that Drew Brees and Peyton Manning were after the Saints and Broncos, respectively, signed them in free agency.

And from the overthecap article:

This is mainly due to Suh costing 3.77% more than Steve Young’s 1994 cap hit of 13.08%, which is the highest of the cap era. The average number one cap hit for a Super Bowl champion is 9.23%, so Suh is way off the average. Generally speaking, the quarterback is the most important position on the field, he has the most impact on the game, he touches the ball every play, so it’s very hard for me to comprehend how Suh could provide 129% of the value that Young provided during the best season of his career.

...if the cap continues to rise at a rate of $10 million a season, then Suh’s cap situation isn’t going to get much easier. With a $28.6 million cap charge in 2016, Suh would take up 18.69% of a $153 million cap, which is more than double the 9.23% average for those number one cap hits.

 

[MiggeMadness]

So, if I'm understanding everything correctly... They are saying the Dolphins will win the Super Bowl this year. Is that what everybody else is taking away from this?

Hey, Tannenbaum had the Jets one game away from the Super Bowl 2 years in a row. With Buttfumble. So why not us? Lol, I can dream.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[where's th'fish]

So, if I'm understanding everything correctly... They are saying the Dolphins will win the Super Bowl this year. Is that what everybody else is taking away from this?

Hey, Tannenbaum had the Jets one game away from the Super Bowl 2 years in a row. With Buttfumble. So why not us? Lol, I can dream.

lol

Yeah, it's true, I'm not to gonna let it bring me down

 

[mithga13]

My take on Suh. Better to overpay an all-pro, than 4 borderline starters. That being said we must must must draft well the next 2 years in particular to have cheaper replacements on the roster. If we don't we won't have tons of money to make more pickups. Hoping for the best.

 

[LANGER72]

My take on Suh. Better to overpay an all-pro, than 4 borderline starters. That being said we must must must draft well the next 2 years in particular to have cheaper replacements on the roster. If we don't we won't have tons of money to make more pickups. Hoping for the best.

I agree. Gamble on elite talent, and draft the replacements.
I like the bold moves instead of always getting mediocre talent and hoping for some kind of miracle
If it doesn't turn out well we can always blow it up and start again.

 

[Digital]

I look at it this way. Before free agency we had substantial money invested in bad players Ellerbe and Wheeler, and a lot invested in a disappointing star with a demoralizing non-team attitude. We now have a driven superstar earning that money (and much more).

Is it extremely risky to invest so much money into one non-QB? Yes. Are we better off than before with those under performers sucking up so much cap space? Yes, I think we are.

Kenny Stills is not perfect, but we got a young, proven deep threat with great hands and a ridiculously good contract, and he cost us peanuts. THAT was a great deal. Regardless of Stills rough edges, his attitude will not be worse than Wallace's and the cap flexibility it provides is crucial.

We are young at LB, but Jenkins, Tripp and McCain have all shown flashes of competence. Misi is solid. One late FA addition should make us passable at LB.

We need DB's. What else is new? Every year almost every NFL team wants to add a CB, S, or both. Usually they want multiple CB's. I'm expecting a high draft pick at CB. If not, we will try Taylor and Davis.

We need 1 more WR. I expect a draft pick and maybe a late veteran, but there are a lot of vets who will be cheap later in FA.

we need 2 OG's, but we will likely draft one and pick up one vet. Hopefully Turner is up to the challenge this year and Dallas Thomas is cut.

Are we there yet? No. But I feel better about where we are now than when Wallace, Ellerbe and Wheeler signed.

Now we just need to keep surrounding Tannehill with talent. Cameron and Stills are a better pair than Clay and Wallace. Good hands players for an accurate passer. That's a good start.

 

[where's th'fish]

The problem is not this year, though, when Suh's got a 6m cap number. The big issue is next year when it will climb to 28m and Tannehill will have a new contract. With some quality players in want of extensions, we may have to let good people walk.