What Dolphin was restructured, contracts of new players and where Miami stands with cap
The Dolphins re-signed Benito Jones on Thursday. In other news...
Dolphins right tackle Austin Jackson couldn’t help the team late last season because of a knee injury.
But he helped the franchise create necessary salary cap space with a recent contract restructuring.
Jackson won’t earn any less money. But the Dolphins lowered his 2025 cap hit from $13.83 million to $5.79 million by converting $9.71 million of Jackson’s 2025 salary into a signing bonus.
That move, reported by overthecap.com, reduced his salary cap number by that $7.8 million.
But that added $1.9 million to his 2026 cap hit, increasing it from $13.8 million to $15.8 million.
It also added to his cap charge the year after his contract expires. Jackson has a $9.4 million cap hit in 2027, when he’s no longer under contract.
Jackson’s $9.9 million salary for 2026 is not guaranteed, but there would be heavy cap consequences for terminating his contract early.
The Jackson restructuring leaves the Dolphins with somewhere between $13 million and $15 million in space. The precise number wasn’t clear Thursday morning because the contracts of seven players who signed contracts with Miami (Liam Eichenberg, Alexander Mattison, Ryan Stonehouse, K.J. Britt, Pharoah Brown, Willie Gay and Benito Jones) hadn’t been listed yet on the players union web site.
But all seven of those players were expected to get modest deals.
Before those deals were processed, Miami had $18.6 million in cap space, according to overthecap.com. But only the 51 highest paid players count against a team’s cap. The players who are now 48 to 51 have cap charges of $960,000.
As perspective, new Dolphins receiver Nick Westbrook-Ikhine has a cap charge of $1.6 million and Elijah Campbell’s new deal has a cap charge of $1.3 million. Benito Jones had a $1.5 million salary and $1.8 million cap hit for Miami in 2024, and his new deal is believed to be in that range or lower.
So if all seven of the unprocessed contracts have modest cap hits (likely), then Miami would be left with $14 million to $15 million in cap space.
That gives Miami enough money to pay defensive lineman Calais Campbell if he decides to return, fill other needs with value signings and sign a draft class.
If the Dolphins choose to create more cap space this offseason, they could easily do so by restructuring contracts of defensive lineman Zach Sieler and linebacker Jordyn Brooks.
The Dolphins so far have bypassed the option of restructuring quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s contract, which would clear $19 million in cap space but add $4.8 million cap charges to his contract from 2026 through 2029.
The Dolphins previously lowered Bradley Chubb’s cap hit by $19 million; his restructuring involved a pay cut.
A few other notes on the contracts of some of the players who signed with Miami over the past week, according to overthecap.com:
▪ James Daniels’ cap hit is very modest this season at $2.7 million, then rises to $4.9 million in 2026 and $10.1 million in 2027. He also has a $5.5 million “void year” cap hit in 2027, when he’s no longer under contract.
None of his salary is guaranteed after this season.
▪ Westbrook-Ikhine has cap hits of $1.6 million and $3.2 million, with a “void year” cap hit of $1.2 million in 2027. His $1.2 base salary this season is guaranteed; his $2.5 million base salary in 2027 is not guaranteed.
▪ Linebacker Tyrel Dodson’s cap hits are $2.5 million this season and $3.7 million in 2026. His $1.17 million salary is guaranteed this season, but his $2.35 million salary in 2026 is not guaranteed.
Among players who signed one-year deals:
▪ New backup quarterback Zach Wilson’s $6 million salary is guaranteed and he has a $6 million cap hit.
▪ New offensive tackle Larry Borom has a $2.5 million cap hit. His $1.17 million base salary is guaranteed.
▪ New safety Ifeatu Melikonwu has a $2.6 million cap hit and his $1.17 million base salary is guaranteed.
▪ New safety Ashtyn Davis has a $2.5 million cap hit but none of his $1.2 million base salary is guaranteed this season. He has pocketed a $1.3 million signing bonus.
This story was originally published March 20, 2025 at 10:01 AM.
