Dolphins start the rebuild

[Pappy13]

You are arguing for the way you think things should work, not the way they do.

Absolutely. It's the way it worked for years. It's the way it works for the majority of players in the NFL. I don't understand the current fascination with NFL QB's both when it comes to the draft and when it comes to contracts.

It actually makes sense for the NBA as your star player can easily carry your team to an NBA championship. It doesn't make sense in the NFL where your QB cannot carry a team to the championship even though we still treat them like they can. Even Brady didn't carry his team to championships he had a LOT of help, much more than anyone gives credit. We've built up the QB position to be the only thing that matters when it's not. I won't disagree that it's the most important position on the team, but it's still a long way from being the only thing that matters and that's how the NFL treats the position. The QB position doesn't matter if you don't have the rest of your team in order. Seems like everyone thinks once you have your QB, everything else is easy to get in place. I'd argue that it might be easier to do the opposite, get everything else in place and then get your QB. If you do it that way you don't necessarily need a franchise QB, you just need an effecient QB.

[Spider-Dan]

It's the way it worked for years. It's the way it works for the majority of players in the NFL.

But it's not the way it works for franchise QBs, and that's been the case for many years (basically since the modern version of franchise tags).  So if you try to treat a QB this way, he'll never be your franchise QB, because he'll walk or demand a trade.

Again, the Dolphins compete in the same market for players as the rest of the teams.  So if the Jaguars, Packers, Bengals, Chargers, Eagles, Cardinals, Bills, Texans, and Chiefs all sign their hopeful-franchise QB draftees to their first big contract early, the Dolphins had better do it too if they don't want to risk losing him.  (This shouldn't even be a big deal, because it's not a competitive disadvantage if your competitors have to do it too.)

[Pappy13]

But it's not the way it works for franchise QBs, and that's been the case for many years (basically since the modern version of franchise tags).  So if you try to treat a QB this way, he'll never be your franchise QB, because he'll walk or demand a trade.

There's the rub, because I wasn't convinced that Tua was a franchise QB.

Again, the Dolphins compete in the same market for players as the rest of the teams.  So if the Jaguars, Packers, Bengals, Chargers, Eagles, Cardinals, Bills, Texans, and Chiefs all sign their hopeful-franchise QB draftees to their first big contract early, the Dolphins had better do it too if they don't want to risk losing him.  (This shouldn't even be a big deal, because it's not a competitive disadvantage if your competitors have to do it too.)

Agreed. I've already admitted that this doesn't have anything to do with the current salary cap issue the Dolphins face. That would have happened regardless. That was never my contention.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

The Dolphins don't have a QB problem, they have a cap management problem.  They have $74 million in dead money not including Tua.

[Pappy13]

The Dolphins don't have a QB problem, they have a cap management problem.  They have $74 million in dead money not including Tua.

They have both which is a double whammy.

[Downunder Dolphan]

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.

[Sibster]

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.

Keep in mind you need at least that much to sign your rookie draft class.   Here's to hoping they do more and that the Tua situation gets resolved quickly.

[Downunder Dolphan]

Keep in mind you need at least that much to sign your rookie draft class.   Here's to hoping they do more and that the Tua situation gets resolved quickly.

Any attempt to move Tua is going to make the cap situation (or our draft situation, or both) worse, not better.

That's the simple fact a lot of people can't seem to get their heads around.

Keeping Tua on the list sucks, but it's a done deal and part of what we are already prepared for as a sunk cost, regardless of if he plays a down or not... moving him on before 2027 will cost us a lot more. I cannot emphasize that enough - it will cost us a LOT more. Cap space, draft picks, quality players we will have to cut to make the magic number: it will cost us heavily of at least one or a number of those things.  

[Downunder Dolphan]

Any attempt to move Tua is going to make the cap situation (or our draft situation, or both) worse, not better.

That's the simple fact a lot of people can't seem to get their heads around.

Keeping Tua on the list sucks, but it's a done deal and part of what we are already prepared for as a sunk cost, regardless of if he plays a down or not... moving him on before 2027 will cost us a lot more. I cannot emphasize that enough - it will cost us a LOT more. Cap space, draft picks, quality players we will have to cut to make the magic number: it will cost us heavily of at least one or a number of those things.  

The hilariously funny (in a tragic way) thing is, when you think of how little cap space we have, the best option of getting someone like Malik Willis (it's not gonna happen anyway) is by keeping Tua on the list and using that $40M we save from not releasing him to pay for it. Crazy but true!

Otherwise, just forget about it. I mean really forget about any notion of it. Cutting Tua will put us so far into the red and we're cutting other players just to sign the draftees and any other bums we get off the street to make up a team list.

[Downunder Dolphan]

Ps. If the the management pay $$$ for Malik Willis, and he bombs out (which will inevitably take rest of the team with him), then this is one and done deal, and we're back at square one this time next year.

If they hitch the whole chariot to this guy for massive contract and he sucks, they can all get the bullet at the next of the season if we wind up close to winless (if not 0-17).

[Downunder Dolphan]

Ps. If the the management pay $$$ for Malik Willis, and he bombs out (which will inevitably take rest of the team with him), then this is one and done deal, and we're back at square one this time next year.

If they hitch the whole chariot to this guy for massive contract and he sucks, they can all get the bullet at the next of the season if we wind up close to winless (if not 0-17).

It's not really their fault either... Grier maxed the credit card well before they even got there. They have so little to work with, something like that is a blindfolded throw at a dartboard to hit a bullseye.

Grier absolutely fucked us. If not for the good grace of Armstead and Chubb taking restructured deals this time last year we were absolutely fucked. As it turns out, Armstead lost nothing, and Chubb gambled on an incentive based deal which he reached, but because the rest of the defense sucked, he didn't get paid.

It was an awful situation they walked into, according to the media they knew the minefield they were about to tip-toe into. But you can forgive so much...

If they are frugal because of what they walked into and it goes south enough to reach Antarctica... you can give some leeway. But if they spend over market value on a pet-project like Willis and it doesn't work in 12 months?

[Downunder Dolphan]

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.

Ingold just got snapped up by the Chargers on a pretty good deal. Good for him.

[Downunder Dolphan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wYIUK7Mr0U

Tua just got cut. That's a massive dent now to our salary cap before we sign anyone. Regardless if it's officially pre-June 1st or post that.

Edit. It is going to be a post June - there was no way we could afford a Pre-June, because we literally couldn't financially survive  that move.

[Downunder Dolphan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wYIUK7Mr0U

Tua just got cut. That's a massive dent now to our salary cap before we sign anyone. Regardless if it's officially pre-June 1st or post that.

Stephen Ross... you're such a financial genius making a truckload of cash in your non-NFL related businesses. How is this team so fucked up?

How do you have such a clown as a GM (and others as cap managers) to wind up with a team with so much dead money and so little talent on the list?

We just wound up with a guaranteed $99M guaranteed cap hit, for a dude who may play on another team (unless he sucks so much he isn't good enough). Either way, are you proud of that?  

We are literally looking at a financial Armageddon and a waste of a bounty of high draft picks engineered by the previous GM for the benefit of... absolutely nothing.  

[Downunder Dolphan]

Oh shit, Minkah's now been traded to the Jets.

https://phinphanatic.com/dolphins-trade-minkah-fitzpatrick-again-jon-eric-sullivan-continues-roster-purge

This has really become a slash and burn exercise. There is little to no leadership players leading into 2026. Expect the worst.