Recent Posts

https://www.si.com/nfl/dolphins/onsi/news/what-ingold-sanders-cut-means-for-dolphins-cap-situation-01kk27xyhj6f

The Fins just cut Sanders and Ingold, which will give us something like $5M in total cap space after these cuts. It ain't much, but I guess it's something.

The only thing that would have been worse would be if he had listened to all the fans hollering to ride out Tua's 5th year option.  Imagine how much worse off the team would be if Tua had signed his new contract in summer 2025.

Wrong. At least in my case.

I was saying we should make him play out his 5th year, and if we weren't certain (and we shouldn't have been after 2024) then franchise tag him for a year.

The Ravens did exactly that with Jackson, and it hurt neither as he signed a fat deal after he proved himself.

Tua wouldn't have been happy about it, but then it would have saved us a lot... by my calculation, about $99M of guaranteed money which is the hole we find ourselves in right now. 

I was basing my decision based on the 2026 1st round pick, not a potential 2027 pick. It's still not saving you $70M unless maybe it's the #1 pick in the draft.

The context of the $70M is one bad season; a bad season that, it bears mentioning, would precisely align your need for a new franchise QB with a greater chance of an early pick to select said QB.

So I'm not sure why the Dolphins would be motivated to give up a first-round pick and trade Tua just so they can... improve their record in 2026 as they plan to draft a QB in 2027.
That doesn't make sense.

Now, if your intent is to compete for the playoffs in 2026, then... I guess?  But the other offseason moves don't make sense in that context.  So if you're going to tear the team down to the studs, giving up a pick that your GM should be turning into a promising core player is at odds with that goal.

[will make impactful selections with first-round picks]

No, it would not; MIA is still on the hook for the prorated signing bonus.  The new team would only take on his (guaranteed) annual salary for the remaining years.

Ok, it's around $70M off the books. That's still a lot of money.

First off, you have to start with the assumption that the GM will make impactful selections with first-round picks, because if that doesn't happen, none of the rest of this stuff matters

Agreed, as I said losing that 1st round pick really hurts.

Second, first-round picks are able to contribute at a discounted rate for up to 5 years, making them much more valuable than one down year in 2026. That first-round pick can be a foundational player that contributes for years to come... especially if the team is bad in 2026 and it's an early pick.

Hmmmm...they didn't mention if they were talking about 2026 pick or 2027 pick. I guess that would make a difference. I was basing my decision based on the 2026 1st round pick, not a potential 2027 pick. It's still not saving you $70M unless maybe it's the #1 pick in the draft.

And third, the entire idea of "cap hell" being an insurmountable barrier to competitive play is overblown.  We saw this in DEN, where the Broncos cut Russell Wilson after 2023 and ate his huge contract, yet still made the playoffs in 2024, then clinched the #1 seed in 2025 with Russell Wilson as the team's highest paid player.

Agreed. The situation isn't insurmountable, I'm just asking the question which do you prefer. That 1st round pick or removing that $70M albatross from your cap. It's not a slam dunk, but I would have to consider it especially if it's our 2026 pick and not 2027 1st round pick. Consider with that $70M gone you could easily go ofter Malik. Would you rather have Malik than our 2026 pick? I would definitely have to consider that.

[false]

Sean McDermott's level of "success" peaked at "Division Champion" or "AFC Finalist," which I suppose is fine if you're a franchise that has never won a Lombardi, but is a very small step up from the "Playoff Participant" level of success that McDaniel repeatedly achieved (which made him a more successful NFL head coach than Nick Saban, Brian Flores, and many other Serious Head Coaches).

Nevertheless, the inclusion of that (false) factoid about McDaniel's playing career is clearly intended as a swipe, which would seem to dovetail nicely with why you're continuing to defend it.

[When, say, Mike Tomlin, John Harbaugh, or Sean McDermott were let go]

When, say, Mike Tomlin, John Harbaugh, or Sean McDermott were let go, I don't remember seeing any facts about the highest level of football they achieved as players.  This is more "He's not a real football guy" BS.

You mean, head coaches who were actually successful?

Possible point of difference - was Denver already carrying around $74M of dead cap money before they cut Wilson?

If that's the case then it has nothing to do with the QB contract: Tua could still be playing at his 2023 level and that dead cap would be the same.

One thing we can all agree on though - Grier royally fucked us with this contract (even more than both Tyreek's and Ramsey's, which is really saying something)

The only thing that would have been worse would be if he had listened to all the fans hollering to ride out Tua's 5th year option.  Imagine how much worse off the team would be if Tua had signed his new contract in summer 2025.

In hindsight, the best options would have been to either re-sign Tua at a huge discount in summer 2023 at the same time as Hurts/Herbert/Burrow, or to trade him (and Tyreek, TBH) in summer 2024 at their peak value.

When you consider the following, you should read that to mean that he played his best football as a high school wide receiver:

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/mike-mcdaniel-yale-playing-career-position/e7kaikroey8sxme2alelrvsf

Funny how we never see the same distinction made for successful college players who make it to the NFL and do nothing there.

The inclusion of that "fact" was itself just a gratuitous shot at McDaniel, made all the worse by its falsehood.  When, say, Mike Tomlin, John Harbaugh, or Sean McDermott were let go, I don't remember seeing any facts about the highest level of football they achieved as players.  This is more "He's not a real football guy" BS.

Some guys peak as coordinators.   They were never meant to be head coaches.  

The NFL as a whole needs a better understanding of what it takes to transition from a successful coordinator to a successful head coach, as well as better methods of identifying that when reviewing the histories of head coaching candidates and interviewing them for head coaching jobs.  Lots of people are great at Xs and Os but don't have the characteristics necessary to lead a group of 50+ professional football players and establish the culture of a pro football team.

Again this is what Tedy Bruschi is saying about McDaniel here, in so many words, and it should've been detectable during McDaniel's job interviews with the Dolphins if they would've had their sights set correctly:

https://www.tiktok.com/@sinbadsports/video/7563768193152568590

[with Russell Wilson as the team's highest paid player]

And third, the entire idea of "cap hell" being an insurmountable barrier to competitive play is overblown.  We saw this in DEN, where the Broncos cut Russell Wilson after 2023 and ate his huge contract, yet still made the playoffs in 2024, then clinched the #1 seed in 2025 with Russell Wilson as the team's highest paid player.

Possible point of difference - was Denver already carrying around $74M of dead cap money before they cut Wilson? We are, so if they weren't, our situation is understandably much worse... we're heading into the legal tampering period with just $1M of cap space on the books, so it's not exactly like we're flush with space to play with right now before any decision on Tua is made.

Also, if they chose to keep Wilson on the books (without playing him) would have they saved over $40M in cap space? That's the situation we have with Tua - it's going to be an additional cap hit of over $40M to cut him before the end of the 2026 season.

One thing we can all agree on though - Grier royally fucked us with this contract (even more than both Tyreek's and Ramsey's, which is really saying something)