How FAST Can The Dolphins RESET The Salary Cap? | 2026 Miami Dolphins Offseason Blueprint

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We're putting the finishing touches on our mock-off season for the dolphins in 2026

with some extension candidates and what the dolphins cap can look like in 2027.

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Oh, right. Miami, welcome to another episode of Lockdown Dolphins.

It is your team every day here on the Lockdown Network.

I'm your host Kyle Krabs, a lifelong Miami Dolphins fan.

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I think we're going to get the rest of it in today.

I think we have to do.

The post June 1st money that's going to hit.

We're going to do a couple of extension candidates for the Dolphins roster.

We're going to have the final closure of my preferred pathway for the two and tongue of a low experience.

I know we're going to look at the salary cap long term.

And by long term, I mean this year and then the next three years of commitments against the cap.

Pretty robust finish today.

I think we're going to get it all in.

But I do an acknowledge that the Miami Dolphins offseason blueprint,

the simulated offseason that goes from start to finish on how I would handle.

What is had and obviously can't pick on can't tell you who on March 6th is going to be available in the draft.

But we do the seven around mock draft and I can't tell you exactly where player prices are going to be.

But I can give you an approximate budget for free agency.

We did all that earlier in the week.

But the Monday show is about things that I would be doing now.

Two of them happened because the Dolphins in real life today it was reported this afternoon,

are are waving Alec Engold and Jason Sanders to save a little over $8 million in cash and just under $7 million in cap space.

So I want to acknowledge that as two things that we talked about on Monday about chess pieces on the board and getting things lined up.

And two of those things came to pass for the Dolphins and they're obviously both logical.

I think they both make a lot of sense relative to a full back in a kicker and the price points there and the cash involved in over $8 million in cash.

Not with where this team is at right we got bigger fish to fry.

And I wish both Alec and Jason the best of luck in their NFL futures moving forward.

Jason obviously the longest 10 year player on the team was drafted in seventh round in 2018.

I was here for four years and was a great staple in the South Florida community.

So tip of the cap to both of those guys, which then the absolute best.

Yesterday on the show we did do our simulated off our simulated seven round mock draft.

So I'm going to pick up today on the show if you missed that and you want to catch that before you get into kind of the summer happenings and the salary cap outlook.

Back and watch and then come back to this point in time 326 on the time stand for the actual start of the show I got you.

Here's what the roster looks like post draft for projected starters right it's either will have us or Quinn yours a quarterback.

Although we did draft Cole Payton in the middle rounds out of North Dakota state.

So you got a three guy competition throw everybody in the deep and say hey best of luck whoever wins the job wins job.

So quick read through of the projected starters.

Patrick Paul.

You want a the rookie Vega you want a the rookie guard.

We draft the 11th overall Aaron Brewer, Jonas Vineio competing with Cordell Wilson for a spot at the other guard spot.

Austin Jackson was the one high price veteran that we chose to retain brought back Greg Dullsich and Julian Hill at tight end.

They'll probably start out in front of Sam Raus. She was a draft pick that we had yesterday as Stanford.

Jalen Waddle at wide receiver with Ty Quant Thornton.

I have great it is a sufficient level starter as a speed player down the field but a guy with some size and then obviously we drafted Bryce Lance from North Dakota state is a big body guy there as well.

The running back backfield Devon H and Jalen right obviously Ali Gordon and.

Riley now a Kowski from Indiana projected starting fullback our specialist Eddie Pinyaro Jake Bailey Joe Cardona brought back two of the three guys as specials from last year's team.

On the defensive side projected starters and this is just four to five nickel.

And if it's a three four or if it's a base four three you might have different guys out there.

Chop Robinson Jordan Phillips, Zach Sealer slash Kenneth Grant Charles a many you projected starting front four Jordan Brooks Tyrell Dotson as the backers.

Juju Brence Jason Marshall slash Davis and Ignosen rookie third round guy that we got cater co who I chose to bring back we got re blanket ship is like the big using air quotes here big money guy.

From Philadelphia and then AJ Halsey was my second round pick out of LSU and he's he's a sledgehammer he's a lot of fun to watch fly around.

So I want to acknowledge when we finished free agency we had about $11 million in cap space at our disposal.

The Bradley Chubb post June 1st is going to hit the books on June 2nd and it's going to send the cat the salary cap.

Assuming you don't sign your rookies and it takes about $6 million out of the cap for like the guys who qualify for top 51.

You could sign them no problem no questions asked.

But you could get north of 30 million dollars in this scenario and still have between 26 and 41 million dollars and cash to spend on contract extensions.

For what we had set for our original budget at the beginning of the year which was we only wanted to spend between 90 and 95% of the salary cap.

Because we want to spend less than the cap so we're not pro rating cash into future years at an a rate that's going to continue to increase our debt we want to leverage the salary cap growth on an annual basis.

To expedite how fast we get rid of our debt instead right.

So in the scenario that we went through a two and the way that the cap picture looked the way that it did which was we peaked at around 34 million dollars in cap space after we moved mink of the trade and we did some juggling of the money in the two of contract.

That was the big thing was the two a juggling of the contract.

And in the scenario which you juggle the money around to create space and flexibility you have to carry them on the roster through June 1st and look.

You look across the lead right for the for the the two a trade market that now no longer exists at all Kirk cousins it's confirmed he's being released.

Iler Murray it's confirmed he's being released Geno Smith today confirmed being released trading for the money with the two a contract versus signing one of those guys for 1.25 million dollars because those other teams are paying guaranteed salary.

You don't have a market and I think that just underscores it's a fixed expense.

You don't have a market because the other quarterbacks are getting flushed out.

Why not move it around the money of the two a contract right and in the scenario that I lived in.

It was a 36 million 36 and a half million dollars of his 54 million dollar salary.

I moved into a bonus and pro rated out against future years so that I could cut him on June 2nd and take a 32 38.2 million dollar deadcap charge this year which is effectively what he would be on the books for between when you make that salary conversion until June 2nd so you don't lose anything.

Then you just carry 64 million dollars in deadcap in 2027 which is the rest of the debts from the contract from the two years he was on the team and 64 million dollars in 2027 that's not great.

But with the two of money at 38.2 and then your other debts that you already have because you moved on from the Tyree kills in the mink of Fitzpatrick's is a trade in the scenario that we kind of explored I want to make sure I get the exact number right.

It's a grand total of 138.746 million dollars in deadcap this year to do the scenario that we did so 64 yeah it's a lot of money it's still two thirds of the deadcap you're smashing into this year for all of your bad contracts not just the two of contract which you don't have any flexibility in the money with.

So once that release happens on June 2nd which is how I would handle the situation.

You sign your rookies you release to and replace them on the roster with another 51st player that's a minimum salary player it's really six in one hand half dozen the others far as the cap ramifications of that.

You can sign your rookies with the plan that we went through on Tuesday and free agency with the quarterback approach that we went through on Wednesday with the drafts that we did on Thursday and signing all of those players and then the Bradley Chubb money happens and then you release to a.

You about 24 million dollars in cap space to work with and now we're going to extend the couple guys in Aaron Brewer and Jordan Brooks and we're going to not their cap charges down and use some more of this budget that we said on the front end that we had for what we wanted to spend the season which was between 90 and 95% of the salary cap space.

We're going to do that next here on like on dolphins make sure you guys stick with us.

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All right, so we went through the roster after the draft for the projected starters we talked about the two resolution how deferring more of the cap split into 2027 actually allows you to take more of your overall cap medicine this year.

But we're still on budget right like we have 24 minute dollars in cash space after getting the rookies on the books.

And then including the money that has to go to like practice quad players we have between 26 and 41 million dollars to spend just to hit the budget that we said at the beginning of the process.

Now maybe you won't get some of these players that we sign up for agency because they're going to get 2x what we projected that probably.

I'm sure it'll get crazy and nutty again this year because some of these teams have more money than they know what to do with.

But that makes the proactive opportunity that you have with two players and Aaron brewer and Jordan Brooks that much more enticing to me because you have the cash budget in the summer you have cap space and you're going to create more cap space for extending both of these guys.

So I'll make Aaron brewer deal and I did this show a little earlier and I'll tell you my price came up.

I'm offering more than what I did when we first did it when I looked at no not assuming what Tyler Linda bomb is going to get.

But Creed Humphrey and Cam Jurgens at the top of the center market.

Linda bomb is going to hit the open market. He's going to blow the roof off.

You know as for portraits he's going to use aiming for 25 million. He'll probably land it like 22.

My offer for an extension for Aaron brewer is three years for 57 million, which is 19 million guarantee that would make him currently the highest paid center football.

Linda bomb will sign a contract before brewer gets an extension done. I am assuming.

He's a cornstone player age 28 and I know look some some folks have concerns about what the scheme translatability is.

He's really coming to his own as a center and I'm not going to say he's Jason Kelsey because that's exceptionally irresponsible.

But the style of play that Jason Kelsey had has a lot of mirrors to the way in which Aaron brewer plays and Kelsey's built in a similar fashion and when he had good guard play next to him.

It really wasn't a problem that only can't road grade a three hundred forty pound those tack off point attack.

So I hear that concern. It's just it's not it for me like the.

The handful of reps where you want a center to solo at one tack or a nose is not enough to offset all of the rare exceptional things that he does.

He's offensive lineman playing in their mid thirties right brewer at 80% of his athleticism still going to be probably the most athletic center in the league.

So it's a three year fifty seven million dollar offer with a fifteen point eight seven five million dollars signing bonus.

It's the vast majority of his contract right it's going to put him about seventeen million dollars in cash in year one.

And he's currently scheduled to make seven million dollars.

So it's like a ten million dollar raise this year for Aaron brewer in cash and remember you go back to the budget that we had.

We got twenty six point three to forty one point four million.

And whereas long as we're spending in there.

We're within the budget that we set at the very beginning of the process at the very beginning of the week.

So the cap schedule for this would be one point seven my five million dollars in cap savings because all of his money is going to come to him in a signing bonus.

So it's seven point three nine five million dollars in cap in twenty twenty six.

And then in twenty twenty seven and twenty twenty eight it's twenty one point seven seven million dollars in each of those two seasons.

Obviously there's a line in there were probably a portion of the twenty twenty eight salaries guaranteed but the rest of it wouldn't and then none of the twenty twenty nine salaries guaranteed.

So he's getting guarantees for twenty six twenty seven impartial in twenty twenty.

And then in twenty twenty nine it's it's twenty point six million dollars and then twenty thirty is an unrestricted for each.

And this would carry him through he's currently his twenty twenty nine thirty one.

Like his age thirty two season he would need a new contract if you're going to run it back.

I've no reason believe he would be out of his prime at that point.

It to me makes a lot of sense.

And you can't look at that number and say nineteen million and say oh Kyle you went cheap.

Second team all pro second highest paid center for currently what would be the highest paid center for.

I think it's a strong offer just like I think the offer for Jordan Brooks is equally as strong.

I came up on this one to kind of the same deal he's getting twenty twenty point three three million per season which nudges him just in front of

because it's a three year sixty point one million dollar total value contract.

He gets an eighteen point eight million dollars signing bonus he's getting twenty million dollars in cash this year which is more than double a pay raise for him for a guy that was first team all pro.

He's one of the best linebackers and football and you might hear the cap numbers it's two point four million dollars in cap savings this year.

So we actually go up in cap while spending not even to the ninety percent floor of the the budget that we had set.

We're still four million dollars short of it now you'll need some of that for injuries in season and whatnot.

But you can get this done and Aaron Brewer done and still be short of the original ninety percent of the cap budget that we had set with the rest of the plan with the budgeting that we have in place.

So both Brooks and Brewer become the second highest paid payers respectively at their position and that is assuming a toddler lender bomb monster contract that that blows the roof off the center mark.

Both of them are under contract or twenty twenty nine both of them carry cap hits north of twenty million dollars in twenty seven twenty twenty nine before hitting the market again they're both age twenty eight they both the meeting new contracts again each thirty one seasons.

It might sound daunting to hear hey center and linebacker at that dollar rate.

But again I want you to internalize we're now up to twenty eight and a half million dollars in cap space with this proposal.

And the thing that we're going to do next after we take one last look through like what the 53 man roster projection looks like what the opening day cap is when you go from a top 51 cap to a 53 man cap.

And then the three year like I have the cap figures for what each one of those three seasons after twenty twenty six looks like against the cap.

And I'm going to pause for dramatic effect.

I would like to think offers it.

The two AAV in the lead is enough for both of those guys to get contracts done three years sixty point one million for Brooks three years fifty seven million for Aaron Brewer.

We're going to do the 53 man roster projection opening day cap and then three year runway cap on the other side of the break to bring this thing to a close so make sure you guys stick with us.

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Let's talk 53 man roster projection.

With what I have laid out for 2026.

I'm projecting you would keep three quarterbacks in this situation.

Will have a squint yours Colpate and whoever wins the job great.

Devon H and Jalen Wright Ali Gordon three running backs with Riley now a kowski is the full back.

You're tight end room would have four tight ends that I would project to keep or I would like to see as far as like again you go back to that objective and you want to keep the players that have a long term pay off.

You're building for the future so having guys that are for the culture you're trying to build and also acknowledging that your decisions for your roster are made under consideration of the long term benefits.

Would be Julian Hill Sam Rausch Greg Dullsich and.

On yours who was an unfortunate injury missed that we had last year Jalen conures so four tight ends to go with three quarterbacks four backs including now a kowski who's a full back tight and hybrid.

Five wide receivers Jalen Waddle type on Thornton Malik Washington.

Bryce Lance Theo East Jr.

And then the offensive line I am keeping ten selfish so I got twenty six on offense.

It's Patrick Paul Vega you want a Aaron Brewer Jonas fine I Austin Jackson Joe no boom cordel Wilson Andrew Meyer.

Micah Morris the we got him as a late round guard in the mock draft yesterday out of Georgia and then key on Smith I'm keeping ten.

We have our three specialists which are Eddie Pinyaro Jake Bailey Joe Cardona and then on defense we get twenty four.

Up front we'll do interior defensive line it's it's Kenneth Grant Zack sealer Jordan Phillips Zeke Biggers and then David Gusto from Kentucky who we got in the late rounds of the mock draft yesterday.

Five edge players chop Robinson Charles and many you.

Cleveland Farrell key Ron Crawford rookie out of Auburn and then Derek McClendon I think he can play a little bit I'd like to see it.

Our linebackers Jordan Brooks Tyrell dots in KJ Brit and then Jordan Colbert who converted from safety last year another guy again there's a safety conversion there to linebacker you want to see those guys through see.

I think he can play let's find out right where sees a special teams guy.

Four safeties read blanket ship AJ Halsey Dante trader and then I say Johnson whose pinballed a little bit back and forth in his practice squad time in Miami between being a corner and a safety.

And then six corners I think the competition there we need the depth because there's some guys with some injury questions.

It's cater coo.

Studio Brent's Jason Marshall Davis and Egg Benosan Ethan Bonner storm doc.

That's the 53 that I have for the plan that we laid out at beginning on Monday with the offseason blueprint and we went through offseason objectives and the salary cap and budget goals and trading.

And juggling the two of contract and trying to get something worked out with Austin Jackson and our internal free agents and our external free agents and the draft it's.

It's been a really fun week to try to put it all together but the payoff.

Comes when you look at the cap situation which is what everybody's focuses on the 2026 dolphins opening day cap.

You cut the roster to down to 53 you got to accommodate 53 players.

This includes practice squad budgeting as well.

You got $22 million in cap space to start with a 53 man roster a fully active practice squad.

Now you might have some guys that you signed as under after rookies and there's guaranteed money there and those guys don't make the roster and then you have to cut those guys so.

You know it it might play an wiggle a little bit and then you'll have injuries throughout the course of the season where you'll have the budget and.

Put a guy with a salary on IR and then signed somebody else to probably a minimum salary guy but 22 is way more than enough you're going to have some significant carry over cap.

And that includes the practice squad so you're not you're not losing practice squad money there item.

Here's the payoff.

Our four year salary cap snapshot through 2029.

You get potential for somewhere around 20 million dollars in rollover cap.

You have 78.09 million dollars in cap space in 2027 plus whatever you roll over and that includes the two a deadline of 64 million.

You've got your own draft selections in the first second third fourth fifth round sixth round you also have Pittsburgh's five courtesy of the Minka Fitzpatrick Jalen Ramsey trade last year with John Smith.

You might have noticed I didn't do anything with Devon H in.

I chose not to do that one.

I've got the franchise tag in my back pocket.

I'd rather have the flexible and if look you you could do an extension and we still still would have comfortably landed in that that budget that we had right.

For what we could spend.

But I chose not to do anything with the Devon H in contract he's a notable expiring contract cater co who was brought back on a one year deal Austin Jackson at right tackle.

Is his year voids or his contract void so he'll he'll be 11 and a half million or effectively 11 million dollars in in dead money to go with what the two of money is.

But all things considered.

We've got a team with some building blocks we got some free agents that might hit for us.

We get about 20 million dollars in cap space that we're going to try to roll over as much as possible we got 78 million dollars as a start point now that's with 39 players.

So you cannot 11 million off of that for minimum salary futures contracts and now you're at 67 plus whatever you roll over so you should be around 85 90 million dollars in cap space and then in 20 28 like right now it's 186 million.

And that's 78 million dollars in cap space again it includes deferring more money from toa and it includes everything you did this off season on a budget.

And I know there's there's little wrinkles and we talked about some guys with injuries or guys that you signed with guarantees that you cut there's going to be more dead money as a result of that.

But at the end of the day.

At the end of the day.

This kind of plan can set your team up for a lot of moving success scaled success starting in 2027 and this year you let the chips fall where they might let these guys go out there cut it loose expect a highly competitive now not necessarily the talents going to be where it needs to be.

I think you can get really set up for success with a plan like this.

I think so anyway.

So that leaves you guys with a lot to chew on blueprint was fun this year.

Appreciate you guys for tuning in as always the final numbers for for dead cap for Miami 138 million 746 127 dollars in dead cap in 2026 with then 64 million dollars in dead cap in 2027 from the two of tongue of a lower contract plus you would have another just short of 11 million dollars.

I'm Austin Jackson's contract avoided, but that's it.

Right the only other contract that I believe has void years on it after you do the extensions for brewer and.

And Brooks I think sealers got one in 2030 Jalen waddles got one in 2029 so.

You you flushed all of that out of the system.

I'm fascinated to see what the dolphins actually do.

Fascinated to see great test for John Eric Sullivan and his staff on the front end of this bill want to see how creative did I try to take some liberties but I also tried to to be rooted in reality as much as possible like I don't want to come out here and put like some fantasy land.

Forecast together.

And some of the names that we we talked about you know maybe they they get big maybe maybe re blanket ship gets nine 10 million dollars a year if he does just move keep the pushing.

Okay is it a low he Gilman can you get a low Gilman for five and a half.

If not Kim curl just came off the market for 12 on an extension he's probably one of the upper guys on the market that doesn't surprise me.

Let's see what they do.

How crabs keep it locked in here locked on the office it is your team every day appreciate you guys as always for checking us show me get a great rest of your day.

I will talk to you all again soon.

Finns up.

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