Who Could Become Other Dolphins Cap Casualties?

The Miami Dolphins moved closer to becoming cap-compliant by releasing three players Friday, but they still have work to do

Miami Dolphins place kicker Jason Sanders (7) kicks a field goal as punter Jake Bailey (16) holds during the first quarter against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium in Week 18 of the 2024 season. / Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

The Miami Dolphins took a nice step toward becoming cap compliant before the March 12 deadline when they released three veterans Friday, but they still have some work to do.

The Dolphins cleared about $8 million of cap space by terminating the contracts (the actual wording of the transactions) of cornerback Kendall Fuller, running back Raheem Mostert and tight end Durham Smythe.

The Dolphins still have to clear about $5.4 million to get under the salary by March 12, with a reminder that only the top 51 cap numbers are calculated before the "final" roster cuts in late August.

The Dolphins certainly have different avenues to create cap space, including restructuring or extending the contracts of some players to lower their 2025 cap number, and those players would include QB Tua Tagovailoa, DT Terron Armstead, OLB Bradley Chubb, DT Zach Sieler, LB Jordyn Brooks and C Aaron Brewer.

Armstead and Chubb also fall into the category of players who become cap casualties, though the savings wouldn't justify either being anything but a post-June 1, which wouldn't help the Dolphins in terms of the March 12 date.

So who could join Fuller, Mostert and Smythe as cap casualties over the next month?

SPECIALISTS TOP THE LIST

K Jason Sanders — On the surface, it might seem strange to include Sanders on this list considering how good he was in the second half of last season, but this may come down to positional value. The reasoning there would be that no matter how good Sanders was in 2024, he couldn't stop the Dolphins from being 8-9 and his impact relative to other positions might be more limited. If the Dolphins wanted to go the cheaper route with a rookie or minimum-salary kicker, they could save $3.3 million of cap space, per overthecap.com.

P Jake Bailey — Bailey is scheduled to have a $2.5 million cap number in 2025, but the Dolphins could clear almost $2 million of that if again they wanted to go with a rookie or a cheaper option.

LB Channing Tindall — Yes, that Channing Tindall. The Dolphins would save a modest $1.4 million against the cap by releasing him, but he also didn't do anything during his first three seasons to suggest the team should give him another shot.

THE DOLPHINS' "UNCUTTABLE PLAYERS"

On the other side, there's a group of players who basically are uncuttable before June 1 because their cap number not only wouldn't go down significantly, it actually would go up.

That list is topped by Tagovailoa and the $44.5 million cap surchage the Dolphins would take if he were cut, with his cap number going in that situation from $39.2 million to $83.7 million (per overthecap.com).

Others in the negative savings department include CB Jalen Ramsey ($32.8 million), WR Tyreek Hill ($28.2 million), WR Jaylen Waddle ($23.1 million), OLB Chop Robinson ($8.8 million) and T Patrick Paul ($1.3 million).

The first four players in that group got large new contracts last year, while the last two were part of the 2024 Dolphins draft class.

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