Where the Dolphins Stand with the Salary Cap ... And the Interesting Chubb Angle

The Miami Dolphins made some significant moves over the last few days, many of which wound up clearing cap space ahead of the start of the new league year.

But they still have some work to do to become cap-compliant by 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday.

The Dolphins created about $12 million of cap space by releasing fullback Alec Ingold and kicker Jason Sanders and then trading defensive back Minkah Fitzpatrick to the New York Jets for a seventh-round pick (a move dictated as much by Fitzpatrick's desire for a new contract, which the Jets gave him, than the need to save cap space).

Those savings, though, will be negated by the eventual signing of Malik Willis and the re-signing of tight end Greg Dulcich.

The overall net effect is the Dolphins still stood $1.8 million over the cap limit of $301.2 million as of late Tuesday morning, according to the appropriately named Over The Cap.

Dulcich was re-signed to a one-year contract that will be worth up to $3.25 million that is fully guaranteed except for a modest roster bonus and will carry a $3.1 million cap number.

Willis' cap number for 2026 is a very modest $8.7 million, which consists of the veteran minimum salary plus one-third of the $22.5 million signing bonus he got on his three-year deal that comes out to $7.5 million in 2026, 2027 and 2028.

THE TUA FACTOR AND THE CHUBB SITUATION

For those wondering, Tagovailoa still carries his $56.3 million cap number despite the team announcing Monday that they would be releasing him at the start of the league year Wednesday. That number will go down by the salary he gets from the Atlanta Falcons, which is expected to be around $1.3 million.

Tua's cap number will stay at the new $55 million until June when it jumps up to $66 million with the post-June 1 designation — Tua's cap hit was so egregious that the Dolphins actually will lose cap space in June despite the post-June 1 designation when it's almost invariably the other way around.

For example, Bradley Chubb's current cap number of $31 million will go down to $11 million based on the reports that he will be released Wednesday with a post-June 1 designation — though it's interesting that the Dolphins publicly announced their intention to make that move with Tagovailoa but not with Chubb.

Maybe there's a world where the Dolphins and Chubb restructure his contract again and he accepts another pay cut to return to Miami, like he did last season.

That potential move alone would put the Dolphins in cap compliance.

The Dolphins also could restructure some contracts by convering base salary into signing bonuses that can be prorated over a few years, but that does add cap commitments in future years.

After Sanders and Ingold, the one player remaining who looks like a potential cut candidate is linebacker Tyrel Dodson, who the Dolphins could release to create $3 million of cap space. But Dodson's cap number currently is $3.8 million, which isn't very high for the production he provided in 2025.

What appears most certain is that the Dolphins probably won't be making many additions beyond minimum-salary players over the next couple of days.