Dolphins Should Have Buyer's Remorse (In Case They Don't)

The decision by Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross to basically run it back in 2025 with GM Chris Grier and head coach Mike McDaniel seemed like a very quick decision in light of his media statement coming the night of the regular season finale.

In reality, that decision probably was made last summer when Ross was busy signing checks on a new contract not only for McDaniel but for a core group of players, Tua Tagovailoa, Jaylen Waddle, Jalen Ramsey and Tyreek Hill.

One NFL season later, the summer of spending isn't looking very good.

What Ross and the Dolphins got in the first year for those millions and millions of dollars handed out and committed in the form of contract extensions and restructured deals was the team's first losing season since 2019 and a nasty cap situation that's going to make retooling the roster for a return to the postseason pretty tricky.

THE TUA AND TYREEK CONTRACTS STAND OUT

Of course, the biggest contract decision the Dolphins made last summer was giving quarterback Tua Tagovailoa a four-year extension instead of having him play on his fifth-year option.

The Dolphins almost backed themselves into a corner of Tua or else by their public comments and their roster construction, so it seemed a given all along they would give him his big-money extension, particularly after he conducted a sit-in at the opening of training camp.

But instead of getting validation for their decision after giving Tagovailoa an extension that potentially could be worth as much as $212 million over the next four years, we got more of the same question marks we had before regarding first and foremost his durability — he wound up missing a career-high six games because of another concussion and, perhaps even more troubling, a hip injury — along with his ability to raise his game and elevate the team against high-end opponents toward the end of the season.

The Dolphins did get an advantage with the salary cap with the extension last year because Tagovailoa's cap number went from $23 million (the fifth-year option number) to $9 million. But that cap number jumps to $39 million in 2025, which is why the Dolphins find themselves some $12 million over the cap at this time.

And Tua's cap number will go to $56 million in 2026 if he's on the roster on the third day of the league year come March 12, which basically is a lock, and that's not going to help the cap much either next offseason.

Of course, the Dolphins have the option of restructuring his contract to bring down the cap number, but that also means adding more cap obligations in future years and being tied to him longer — which is fine if the Dolphins are making deep playoff run, though we're still waiting for those.

And the big question that needs to be asked is what kind of contract Tagovailoa would be getting this offseason had the Dolphins not budged last year, making him a free agent at this time. We'll go ahead and suggest it would look more like the three-year, $100 million contract Baker Mayfield signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers than what Tagovailoa ended up getting because, well, "The market is the market."

Even more troubling was the new contract given to Tyreek Hill, particularly now in light of the issues that surfaced with him in 2024, culminating with his infamous comment that he's "out."

The Dolphins are facing a situation where they might have to entertain trading him if it was more than a case of speaking out of frustration, and the cap hit they'll take if they do trade him will be more significant than before his new deal.

And the reality is the Dolphins didn't have to do anything with Hill's contract because it still had three years left on it, although no guaranteed money beyond 2024. This was a case of the Dolphins rewarding a player for a job well done the previous two seasons, but probably not a wise business decision.

With McDaniel and Ramsey, the one issue there is that both still had two years left on their contract, so there really was no rush to do anything.

Again, this was a case of Ross and the Dolphins rewarding two folks for a job well done, except that a year later neither McDaniel nor Ramsey look as good as they did after the 2023 season.

All it took was one year.

The biggest gripe from this end is the Dolphins handing out contracts last summer like a team needing to reward its key components, which is fine if it comes after a championship or at least a deep playoff run, but this remains a franchise without a playoff victory since December 30, 2000.

Was there really a crying need to be so generous with big-money new contracts?

A year later, the answer seems pretty obvious.