Top Free Agents Who Should Be Out of Dolphins Price Range

Don't expect the Miami Dolphins to sign a high-priced free agent such as Kansas City Chiefs guard Trey Smith

Kansas City Chiefs guard Trey Smith (65) on the line of scrimmage against the Miami Dolphins in a 2024 AFC wild card game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. | Denny Medley-Imagn Images

One of the top pending unrestricted free agents of 2025 will be hitting the open market and he absolutely massively could help the Miami Dolphins, but he's likely going to be out of their price range.

And what applies to guard Trey Smith of the Kansas City Chiefs — on whom the team likely will not be putting the franchise or transition tag, per Nate Taylor of The Athletic — probably holds true for all, if not most, of the top options on the market at other positions.

The Dolphins find themselves currently under the cap, according to overthecap.com, based on the latest projections for what the NFL's final number will be for 2025, but still slightly over factoring in the rookie class (which adds up to "effective cap space."

While the Dolphins can and likely will create additional space with other moves beyond the three veterans released last Friday, it's not like they're going to be swimming in money and they also have 25 of their impending free agents, so a not-insignificant number of players will have to be signed.

That combination makes it extremely unlikely the Dolphins can offer big contracts to player like Smith. In his case, it also would be difficult to see Miami break the piggy bank after the team let fellow guard Robert Hunt leave as a free agent last offseason because he was too expensive.

Likewise, we'd expect the Dolphins' circumstances to preclude the idea of signing high-profile free agents like Stefon Diggs, Keenan Allen or Amari Cooper at wide receiver; Zack Martin or Brandon Scherff at guard; Javon Hargrave or D.J. Jones at defensive tackle; Marcus Williams or Justin Reid at safety; or Carlton Davis, Charvarius Ward, D.J. Reed or Byron Murphy at cornerback.

THE DOLPHINS' 2024 EXAMPLE

Using what the Dolphins did last offseason, when they were in a similarly touchy cap situation, should prove a useful example.

So let's remember the largest contract the Dolphins handed out to an unrestricted free agent was the three-year, $26 million deal that went to linebacker Jordyn Brooks. Second was the three-year, $21 million deal for center Aaron Brewer.

Cornerback Kendall Fuller signed a two-year deal that was worth up to $16.5 million, but he was released after one year and almost $8 million pocketed.

The rest of the Dolphins contracts were modest in financial terms, and the players signed included veterans toward the end of their career like Calais Campbell and Jordan Poyer, and players who had been released by other teams like Jonnu Smith.

The Dolphins also didn't give out big contracts to free agents in 2023.

The last big-money free agent the team signed was tackle Terron Armstead, to whom they gave a five-year, $75 million contract in 2022, though it has since been restructured with Armstead taking a pay cut in 2024.

But that was then, this is now. The Dolphins were flush with cap space heading into that 2022 offseason. They're most definitely not in the same situation three years later.

That means the idea of adding a Trey Smith, Justin Reid or Byron Murphy, while it sounds nice, really doesn't seem very realistic.