How the Brooks Contract Details Further Crystallized the Dolphins Game Plan

All-Pro linebacker Jordyn Brooks recently signed a three-year contract extension with the Miami Dolphins

Miami Dolphins linebacker Jordyn Brooks (20) speaks to reporters before the start of training camp at the Baptist Health Training Complex. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The details are in on the contract extension the Miami Dolphins recently gave to All-Pro linebacker Jordyn Brooks, and it's pretty easy to detect a trend here.

Specifically, it speaks loudly to the vision the Dolphins have for their program, at least the beginning of the Jon-Eric Sullivan/Jeff Hafley.

THE BROOKS CONTRACT DETAILS

As reported earlier, the extension was for three additional years and up to $48 million, including a $12.3 million signing bonus and $35 million guaranteed.

The new deal changes the details of the one remaining year Brooks had left, with his base salary for 2026 going down to the veteran minimum of $1.2 million and his cap number dropping from a tad under $11 million to $6.2 million.

The Dolphins' cap space for 2026 increased to $16.2 million, per Over The Cap, which now ranks 19th in the NFL.

Brooks' cap number will jump to $18 million in 2027 and stay around that mark through the 2029 season, which is the final year on Brooks' revised contract.

Brooks' 2027 compensation is fully guaranteed, with $2.5 million of 2028 salary becoming guaranteed on the third day of the 2027 league year, according to Spotrac.

If Brooks plays out the contract, he will become an unrestricted free agent in the spring of 2030.

With the Brooks' revised contract, the Dolphins now have only one player with a cap number higher than $7 million in 2026, that being defensive tackle Zach Sieler coming in at $11.4 million.

HOW THE BROOKS DEAL MATCHES WITH WHAT MIAMI DID EARLIER

If the Brooks extension looks a lot like those given earlier to running back De'Von Achane and center Aaron Brewer, it's because it indeed is similar.

In all three cases, the Dolphins decreased the player's 2026 cap number, and more significantly, each player got guaranteed salary through the 2027 season with a portion of the 2028 salary becoming guaranteed in March of next year.

If the Dolphins so choose, they could move on from any of or all three of those players without major cap pain — certainly nothing like they've experienced this offseason — during the 2028 offseason.

And this also coincides with the realistic timetable to decide how long of a commitment to make to quarterback Malik Willis.

Remember that he signed a three-year deal worth $67.5 million, but what is guaranteed is $45 million over the next two years.

So the game plan is pretty clear: The Dolphins are going to give themselves two years to see where they can go with Willis, Brewer, Achane and Brooks as foundational players with the ability to reassess things at that point.

Those four players are the only ones on the roster with guaranteed money in 2027 outside of recent first-round picks Chop Robinson, Kenneth Grant, Kadyn Proctor and Chris Johnson as well as second-round pick Jonah Savaiinaea and Jacob Rodriguez (fully guaranteed contract for second-round picks became a thing in 2025 after Patrick Paul already had been drafted at that spot).

That's 10 players we can safely say will be on the roster in 2027 for the Dolphins, adding to the notion that the upcoming season is a long audition for players looking to earn a longer stay with the team.

In the end, it's possible that Brooks, Brewer, Achane or Willis, or any combination thereof or maybe even all of them, will be around for a longer period of time.

But the game plan has been pretty clear all along, and the Brooks contract details just reinforced that notion.