Dolphins Get Good Salary Cap News

The NFL announced Friday its salary cap number for 2024 and it featured a record increase

Alain Poupart | Feb 23, 2024

Dolphins Get Good Salary Cap News /

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Miami Dolphins

The Miami Dolphins' salary-cap situation got a little better Friday, and they didn't have to do anything.

The NFL announced Friday that the salary cap for 2024 had been set at a record-high $255.4 million, well above initial projections that had put it somewhere around $242 million.

This was good news for every team in the NFL, but particularly those with tight cap situations, and that clearly included the Dolphins.

The Dolphins are in the third-worst position when it comes to getting to the cap limit by the start of the league year March 13 at $38.5 million, according to overthecap.com, with only the Buffalo Bills and New Orleans Saints in worse shape. The Saints shaved off $23 million off their cap this week by restructuring the contract of QB Derek Carr.

The NFL explained that the unprecedented jump in the salary cap was "the result of the full repayment of all amounts advanced by the clubs and deferred by the players during the Covid pandemic as well as an extraordinary increase in media revenue for the 2024 season."

The previous biggest jump had come in 2022 when the cap increased $25.7 million for each team to $208.2 million.

THE DOLPHINS STILL HAVE WORK TO DO

The additional cap space will help the Dolphins — just like every other team — in putting together their 2024 roster, whether it be being able to sign an additional free agent or retain another veteran.

This is significant for the Dolphins, who have 26 pending unrestricted free agents, including defensive tackle Christian Wilkins, offensive linemen Robert Hunt and Connor Williams, and edge defender Andrew Van Ginkel.

The higher-than-expected cap total maybe also might be the difference between the Dolphins saying goodbye or keeping some high-profile veterans, such as Jerome Baker and Xavien Howard.

Whatever they do with that extra cap space, the Dolphins' offseason cap maneuvering got easier, even if just a ittle.

Ranking the 2024 Dolphins Free Agents ... And Their Likelihood of Returning

Published Feb 23, 2024

ALAIN POUPART

Alain Poupart is the publisher/editor of All Dolphins and co-host of the All Dolphins Podcast. Alain has covered the Miami Dolphins on a full-time basis since 1989 for various publications and media outlets, including Dolphin Digest, The Associated Press, the Dolphins team website, and the Fan Nation Network (part of Sports Illustrated). In addition to being a credentialed member of the Miami Dolphins press corps, Alain has covered three Super Bowls (for NFL.com, Football News and the Montreal Gazette), the annual NFL draft, the Senior Bowl, and the NFL Scouting Combine. During his almost 40 years in journalism, which began at the now-defunct Miami News, Alain has covered practically every sport at one time or another, from tennis to golf, baseball, basketball and everything in between. The career also included time as a copy editor, including work on several books such as "Still Perfect," an inside look at the Miami Dolphins' 1972 perfect season. A native of Montreal, Canada, whose first language is French, Alain grew up a huge hockey fan but soon developed a love for all sports, including NFL football. He has lived in South Florida since the 1980s.