Dolphins offensive lineman Terron Armstead seemingly plans to continue playing
Every offseason Terron Armstead spends weeks, if not months, contemplating whether he wants to continue playing professional football.
According to head coach Mike McDaniel, the veteran left tackle has a standing invitation to return to the Miami Dolphins, who have the 12-year-veteran under contract for two more seasons.
Based on comments Armstead made Thursday at Super Bowl row in New Orleans, it seems as if he’s leaning toward accepting that invitation.
“Feel great, man,” Armstead told ProFootball Network, seemingly referring to his body, which betrayed him at the of the 2024 seasons, particularly a right knee issue that Armstead told the Miami Herald was tough to play through after Miami’s season-ending loss to the New York Jets. “I’m just enjoying the time with my kids, and all those great things. I’ll be talking to the Dolphins front office pretty soon to figure out the direction and path that we’re looking to go, but [I] feel great.”
Before Armstead, who will turns 34 in July, can officially return for his fourth season in Miami he will likely be asked to take a pay cut similar to the one he took last offseason.
The Dolphins are roughly $12 million over the NFL’s projected salary cap, and must become cap compliant by releasing and restructuring players on, or before March 12.
Armstead’s cap number for the 2025 season currently stands just short of $23 million. He’s due $13.3 million in base salary, a $1 million roster bonus that pays him just less than $59,000 for each game he plays in 2025, and he has $700,000 in incentive-based bonuses.
It’s logical to conclude that the Dolphins will ask the five-time Pro Bowler to restructure his contract for the second straight year, reducing his salary to somewhere in the $10 million-or-less range, which is what he earned this season after being shaken down by the team.
It’s possible that another restructuring could create as much as $9 million to $10 million in cap space.
But what happens if Armstead says no? That means he might have taken his last snap for the Dolphins, who would be forced to release him, which would create a $15 million cap savings if he’s designated a June 1 release.
If he’s outright cut he would create $4.2 million savings.
“I feel very fortunate to have been able to sign him in 2022,” McDaniel said of the five-year, $87.5 million contract Miami signed Armstead to as a free agent coming from the New Orleans Saints that offseason. “We wouldn’t be where we’re at [as a franchise] without him.”
Despite his injury issues, and inability to practice for months at a time, Armstead has been a pillar of the granite on an offensive line, which already needs to be rebuilt at every spot but right tackle and center.
“What a huge piece of our team he is. Just in terms of where we started off and where our mindset is in tough times, or in good times. He’s one of the guys that everyone looks to,” McDaniel said back in December. “You’re always hopeful for [his return]. I’m not taking him for granted for any moment.”
Miami used a second-round pick on Patrick Paul, the former University of Houston standout, believing that the 6-foot-7, 332 pounder could eventually serve as Armstead’s replacement, and general manager Chris Grier said “we feel that he’s going to be a good player” at the season’s final sit-down with the media.
But whether Paul is ready to handle the starting left tackle role, going up against the NFL’s best pass rusher on a weekly basis, is another conversation.
Paul played 331 snaps last season, starting three games for the Dolphins. He allowed three sacks and committed five penalties last season. ProFootballFocus.com rated him the 77th offensive lineman out of the 141 who played in 2024.
“We’re going to have to invest in the offensive line,” Grier said at his end of the season news conference. “Kendall [Lamm] did a fantastic job here for a few years. We’re just older there now, and [Isaiah] Wynn. So yes, this is the time again like we did back a few years ago [when Miami selected] Austin [Jackson] and Rob Hunt and Solomon Kindley. This is the time for us to again start investing in some offensive linemen.”
Veteran offensive linemen Liam Eichenberg, Robert Jones, Wynn and Lamm are all free agents, and it’s unclear which of them will return, if any. All of them struggled last season, and Miami’s offensive line was a major underperformer, especially once Jackson sustained a season-ending knee injury in mid-November.
Lamm, who didn’t finish the 2024 season because of a surgical procedure he had done to his back, openly talked about 2024 being his last season in the NFL.
Having Armstead’s presence in the unit for 2025 could help ease some of the growing pains, but that only happens if Miami, and Armstead can work out a deal.
“I think we need more of an edge, more of an attention to details, the small things,” Armstead said when asked Thursday by ProFootballTalk about the Dolphins’ 8-9 season. “That’s what Kansas City did to separate themselves from the league.
“Down-to-down we can play with anybody,” Armstead said, referring to the Dolphins. “We can be as physical as we want to with anybody. It’s just the situational game [that] hasn’t been our friend. We have to make that a huge emphasis moving forward.”
