Mathis said he expects to sign no sooner that two weeks when camps start and teams realize what they need or injuries occur.

I am curious to see how the Dolphins view...

* the state of the team (Guard position expecially)
* 2016 FA's they plan to resign
* 2016 salary cap plan

We currently have about 10 mil in cap space BUT we are 8 mil OVER the cap next year. Add Mathis to that equation and the deficit grows.

He scoffed at his remaining 13 mil/2 year deal so we know what he is looking for in a contract. He may or may not get an offer in that area depending on who gets injured...IF he plays the waiting game and a team with cap space wants to make a deal.

Our notable free agents in 2016....

Louis Delmas: Probably not a priority with all the young guys on the roster...Aikens, Thomas, Jones, Thompson

Matt Moore: probably resign for backup money

Derrick Shelby: depends on how well he does this year AND the play/health of Wake in 2015, who will be 34 next year and carries a 10 mil cap hit.

Olivier Vernon: Biggest priority. Especially if he puts up a 10 plus sack season this year.

Lamar Miller: Could have a huge year and be a target to resign. RB's aren't very expensive so we could probably find a way to keep this young and upcoming RB.

All expendable barring a huge year in 2015....

Kelvin Sheppard
J.D. Walton
LaMichael James
Rishard Matthews
Zackary Bowman
C.J. Mosley
Jeff Linkenbach
Josh Freeman
Jacques McClendon
Spencer Paysinger

So now they have to clear 8 mil in cap space at a minimum but that climbs to 23 mil (in needed space) if you include what we will need to resign some key players. Add another 5-6 mil for rookie cap pool and we need to clear almost 30 mil in 2016.

That means some players under contract will get the axe. I see these players as candidates....

Dion Jordan +3.2 mil
Greg Jennings +4 mil
Koa Misi +3.7 mil
Earl Mitchell +2.5 mil
Jason Fox +1.4 mil

There are other players below these guys that could get cut this or next year but they all have contracts under 1 mil per year.

So those (above players) only add up to 14.8 mil in saving. That implies there will be some tough cuts coming next year. Many will depend on how they perform this year but this is the list to choose from...

Cameron Wake +8.4mil (cap savings)
Brent Grimes +6.5 mil
Brandon Fields +3.5 mil
Jordan Cameron +7.5 mil
Brice McCain +2.5 mil

Now do you add to the mess by giving Mathis a 2 or 3 year deal with a 5-6 mil cap hit each year? I don't think we have any choice. We can't.

Maybe a few players will restructure but that provides little relief.

That also means we will be absent from the UFA market next year.

I sure hope Ndamukong Suh is worth that 28.6 mil cap hit.

The only way we come out in a good spot is if ALL these players step up and claim starting roles by next year.....

Jamil Douglas, Billy Turner, Shelby, Jamar Taylor, Tony Lippett, Bobby McCain, Jordan Phillips, Jay Ajayi, Zach Vigil, Jordan Tripp



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/26/2015 02:16AM by JoeFootball.

Interesting stuff Joe, I think unless our guards come out and stink the joint up right away we'll pass on Mathis and his large demands (unless he lowers them). Cheaper vets will become available as camp casualties during TC IMO

As far as next year, I had no clue we are already projected to be 8 million over the cap right out of the box (makes sense though with the Suh and Tannehill contracts). I think aging vets like Grimes and Wake will be likely candidates to be let go next year (or at the very least asked to restructure), very large cap numbers for guys past their prime.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/16/2015 11:21AM by dolphaholic.

lol past their primes?

Both wake and grimes are at the top of their game next year.

Whatever Miami under the cap for this year, will carry over next year. The cap for 2016 is also likely to go up. Between the carryover and the cap increase, Miami should be able to sigh its rookie and be even with the cap if they don't make any more moves. I think Dion Jordan is pretty much a goner. The can recover 3.2M of this year cap room and cut him next year. I think anyone on the above list is a goner if they don't perform to the salary expectations (including wake and grimes). I also woollike the rule out Albert if he doesn't make it all the way back either. I think they will be ok, but with no big Free Agent acquisitions. Wake and grimes could also be extended to free up caps space as both are near the end of there contracts.

If Miami signs Mathis it change next years caps situation.

You never know when elite players make that dreaded drop BUT it's usually in their 30's and that's where those guys are...

Depending on the market I think we could do a one year deal for Mathis and get away with it. Other than that....nothing.

sign him for 2 years with all the guaranteed money this year.

at some point we need to be consistently good at drafting replacements. Cut wake, resign vernon and move mccain to de.

Suh alone makes the DEs better. I'm afraid his addition and the contract year may help Vernon play himself out of our price range.

I would say Jordan Cameron is going to have to be a Pro Bowler to justify paying him 9.5 million next year..
Scary thought but it seems, Mike Tannebaum has done what he is best known for, burdening his team with huge cap liabilities...Did we have to do, Suh, Pouncey and Tannehill all in the same year we eat huge dead money on so many players... The most dead money in the entire NFL? I can say one thing, Tannebaum has balls of steel... I am glad he isn't in charge of my finances... A bit risky for my blood... I like a lot of what he did but the cap situation makes me a bit nervous.. Lets hope Dawn Aponte has a plan to deal with all of this...

-----------------------------------------------------------------
All things are subject to interpretation whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth.
Nietzsche

I think they would restructure/extend Cameron if he has a decent season. I think it was basically a one year prove it deal.

I still can't believe the Bills are paying Clay 18.5 mil over the next two years. 13.5 mil cap hit next year. Fools.

JoeFootball Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Between the carryover and the cap increase, Miami
> should be able to sigh its rookie and be even with
> the cap if they don't make any more moves.
>
> I don't see how.
>
> I believe the carry over is included in the
> numbers I listed for next year as well as the
> increase for the "projected" cap. Without the
> carryover we would be 18 mil over the cap next
> year.


I did some research. Over the cap numbers don't include the prior year cap roll over. The 2015 Salary cap limit is $143.2M. The Dolphin top 51 player leaves us with a 142.4M cap hit. I read that we have 9.5M in cap space which is pretty much mostly the carry over from the previous year. Our top 51 player cap 2016 cap hit 157.9M. This number will grow slightly with the final training camp cuts (bonus dead money) found articles that suggest a 10M increase for 2016 (one article suggest 15M increase because of the new TV money).

here are the past few salary caps. 2016 is suppose to a decent increase because of the new TV deal hitting.

2015 143M
2014 133M
2013 123M
2012 120M

Even if the cap limit ends up being $150M, 150M+9.5M leaves us with a little room as of today.

It looks like I am wrong about the Dion Jordan situation. Depending on the '16 cap increase it should not be too bad (minor cuts) to sign the rookie class. Anything other additions is going to require
restructing (which I am not fan of), extending players near the end of their contract or cutting player for salary cap hits.

Crowder52 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I would say Jordan Cameron is going to have to be
> a Pro Bowler to justify paying him 9.5 million
> next year..
> Scary thought but it seems, Mike Tannebaum has
> done what he is best known for, burdening his team
> with huge cap liabilities...Did we have to do,
> Suh, Pouncey and Tannehill all in the same year we
> eat huge dead money on so many players... The most
> dead money in the entire NFL? I can say one thing,
> Tannebaum has balls of steel... I am glad he isn't
> in charge of my finances... A bit risky for my
> blood... I like a lot of what he did but the cap
> situation makes me a bit nervous.. Lets hope Dawn
> Aponte has a plan to deal with all of this...


Jeff Ireland really stuck it to us in his last year Free Agent class signings. In someways it was necessary to make those changes unless we wanted to continue being a middle of the pack team.

The funny thing about future (and current) cap numbers is.......you can very rarely find two articles that say the same thing.......

Dgood- Yes I understand that we have to "pay the piper" when you wipe the slate clean from past Gm's... It was just a bold move to do it all in one year.... We didnt have to resign Tannehill, nor Pouncey, they were both under contract for at least another year... Obviously Tannebaum believed signing them early to big deals was a benefit long term financially and for the team chemistry. And worth the cap risk...Bold moves with all the dead money and Suh signing.

Joe- Yes there is no way we needed to pay Clay that type of money.. That is a big contract to live up to.. I think Tannebaum might have suckered Rex and played to his ego.. That contract doesnt make sense...
Also I was looking at those 2016 numbers, if we have all those top 10 money guys in the cap play up to their cap number, we are in the Super Bowl... That being said, if some don't play up to their number, alot of money can be freed up pretty easily with some of those contracts...

Dolph- yes it seems like the cap numbers are very fluid this time of year, every time you look something changes...

-----------------------------------------------------------------
All things are subject to interpretation whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth.
Nietzsche

That would be a much better scenario.

The good news is that we knock 22 mil off the dead cap between 2015 and 2016.

It's all going to come down to the first few days of training camp and how the guards are looking...if they show up in shape and strong enough to compete with our DT's...we won't need a "progress stopper" at LG.

We already have over 20 mil invested next year in just 2 offensive linemen. We really need to develop some players who don't cost much.

I also hope they can find a suitable LT backup. Fox...not so sure.

Sign him to a lucrative 1 yr deal.we can afford it this year. Hit oline hard next draft or sign Mathis if he excells. We continue with this oline Buffalo and the Jets will wear us down.

GO DOLPHINS!!!!

I don't get this "let's wait and see if Dallas Thomas etc are good and then decide on Mathis" approach. Thomas sucks, it's been proven over the past 3 years and a few more practices (he's been horrible by all accounts) is not going to tell the coaches anything they shouldn't know already. Then you add in Billy Turner and Douglas who have like 15 NFL snaps between them----even if they look OK in minicamp (that's about as good as I've heard about them thus far) that's not enough of a sample size to have any sort of confidence in their ability when the real games start. Meanwhile while we are "waiting" guaranteed some other team signs Mathis. This approach is going to get RT killed and sink our season. Aponte etc need to figure out a way to get Mathis in and make it workable, end of story.

________________________________________________________
The beatings will continue until morale improves.

Lets not forget that Mathis was cut from Miami once before because he stunk after 7 games, a little too early to tell what we have in Turner and Douglas at this point..........

yeah but 3 years is enough to know that Dallas Thomas is an utter waste of space.

________________________________________________________
The beatings will continue until morale improves.

Our guards are not very good. Sign mathis now.

Tannehill is going to get slammed and get injured if the guard position doenst get fixed before the season starts.

They will sign him if there is risk of line being awful. I like they are giving the young guys every opportunity and coaching to succeed. They are doing a good job of building, it's up to the players to step up.

They didn't make a move last year until after the first scrimmage. That's when they signed Satele. Our first scrimmage is tomorrow (Friday).

They have to get a look in live action. Now slowing the process may be that Thomas is banged up but they will get a look at Douglas and Turner and Linkenbach.

Evan Mathis signs with Denver. Reported to earn up to 4m WITH incentives. No real contract details yet.

Edit (Oops...didn't see the other post.)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/26/2015 02:16AM by JoeFootball.

Perhaps signing Mathis **WAS** a good idea .....

cahokietim Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Perhaps signing Mathis **WAS** a good idea .....

Can he play defense?

Posted by: dolphaholic

cahokietim Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Perhaps signing Mathis **WAS** a good idea .....

Can he play defense?



First, I'd ask him to run-block....