Cut, Keep or Restructure: Making the Call on the Miami Dolphins' Worst Contracts
The Miami Dolphins have a lot of work to do this offseason, and it starts with analyzing some of their bad contracts and deciding on the fate of the players tied to said deals.
The Dolphins have quite a few bad deals on their books. These deals don't necessarily mean that they're bad players—just that the players are bad fits for the team signed to deals that significantly overvalue their abilities.
Now, we'll be looking at those deals and wonder whether the Dolphins should cut, keep or restructure these contracts.
These decisions must be made due to the salary-cap hell the Dolphins are in going into the offseason. This is forcing them to dip into the $8 million in rollover cap space the team has accumulated just to get slightly under the projected $140 million salary cap.
Here's a look at these contracts.
Dannell Ellerbe: Cut
1 of 5
Cap Number: $9.85 million
Dead Money: $4.2 million (Pre-June 1 cut)/$1.4 Million (Post-June 1 cut)
Cap Savings: $5.65 million (Pre-June 1 cut)/$8.45 million (Post-June 1 cut)
Here's an easy decision to make: Dannell Ellerbe.
The Dolphins signed Ellerbe in 2013 to a much-ballyhooed contract worth $35 million over five years with $14 million guaranteed.
Ellerbe was a key cog in the Baltimore Ravens defense during their Super Bowl run in 2012-13. But he would fail to live up to his deal in the first year by turning in a season where he posted a Pro Football Focus grade (subscription required) of minus-13.5, including an atrocious minus-15.4 against the run.
Seemingly reinvigorated by a move to outside linebacker in 2014, Ellerbe would only play in one game for the Dolphins before injuring his hip in that Week 1 contest against New England, landing on injured reserve.
The Dolphins know that a change must be made at linebacker, and it starts with trimming the fat. Ellerbe is the fattest one contract-wise, and after two years in a system he is not suited for, it would be best if the Dolphins and him went their separate ways.
Cortland Finnegan: Cut
2 of 5
Cap Number: $6.475 million
Dead Money: $1 million
Cap Savings: $5.475 million
This isn't a knock on Cortland Finnegan, a player who was inconsistent on the field but a pretty good locker room presence this season.
The knock is on his salary and how much the Dolphins would save without him, along with the fact that they can get similar production out of Jamar Taylor.
Do the Dolphins need additional help at cornerback? Without a doubt they do, but I don't see Finnegan being that help for that price in 2015.
Mike Wallace: Restructure
3 of 5
Cap Number: $12.1 million
Dead Money: $9.6 million (Pre-June 1 cut)/$5.2 million (Post-June 1 cut)
Cap Savings: $2.5 million (Pre-June 1 cut)/$6.5 million (Post-June 1 cut)
I really don't care about the drama that surrounded Mike Wallace at the end of the season.
I really don't care about the pouting, nor do I care about how "coachable" or "non-coachable" he may be.
What I do know is that Mike Wallace can help win football games.
Is he overpaid? Of course he is. That's why I suggest the Dolphins restructure his deal into one that will free up a little bit of cap space while also ensuring that they won't have too much dead money in 2016 in case it doesn't work out in 2015.
That's as far as I will go, though. I wouldn't release him, and while I'd entertain trade offers for him, I highly doubt that the Dolphins would be able to get anything worth parting ways with Wallace.
Why should the Dolphins make it work with Wallace? He can be a good deep threat, and if the Dolphins can improve their offensive line and give Ryan Tannehill even a half-second more to find and throw it to Wallace, the two can work out.
The Wallace-and-Tannehill connection will also be helped out by the presence of a better running game (the revamped offensive line and a power back who can complement Lamar Miller should fix that). Also, it wouldn't hurt to take a big-bodied wide receiver in the draft (Kevin White would be my choice).
Instead of cutting bait because Wallace is "too difficult," the Dolphins should instead try to keep Wallace in the fold. They must figure out better ways to utilize his talents (which Bill Lazor did an excellent job of in 2014), and most importantly, figure out how to make sure he gets along better with head coach Joe Philbin and quarterback Ryan Tannehill.
It's not worth giving up on someone who has had a positive effect on the offense, which I'm sure you noticed sputtered in the second half against the Jets in Week 17 when he was out.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Brian Hartline: Cut
4 of 5
Cap Number: $7.35 million
Dead Money: $4.2 million (Pre-June 1 cut)/$1.4 million (Post-June 1 cut)
Cap Savings: $3.1 million (Pre-June 1 cut)/$5.95 million (Post-June 1 cut)
This is the wide receiver the Dolphins should consider releasing, if they are going to release one this season (spoiler alert: they will).
Brian Hartline is a nice receiver to have. He usually catches the ball when it's thrown to him, he has served as a safety blanket for Ryan Tannehill in the past and he has a knack for getting open.
Unfortunately, Hartline doesn't provide very much in terms of yards after the catch, saw his production plummet in 2014 (partially due to the emergence of rookie Jarvis Landry) and isn't exactly a scoring machine.
Based off of what he's getting paid, I'd say he's very overpaid. He's a nice player to have on your team, but not for that price, especially when there has been a decline in production.
Philip Wheeler: Cut
5 of 5
Cap Number: $4.4 million
Dead Money: $4.2 million (Pre-June 1 cut)/$1.4 million (Post-June 1 cut)
Cap Savings: $200K (Pre-June 1 cut)/$3 million (Post-June 1 cut)
This seems like an easy decision to make.
One of the most hated players on the team the last two seasons has been Philip Wheeler and for good reason.
Wheeler has a tendency to miss tackles, has been poor in run coverage and can't seem to cover a tight end very well.
The simple question surrounding Wheeler is, "What can he do right?" And the answer to that is simply the fact that he gets a high volume of tackles, which usually tend to be empty and meaningless tackles a good 10 yards down the field in the wrong direction for the Dolphins.
New Dolphins executive vice president of football operations Mike Tannenbaum didn't seem to be too big of a fan of Wheeler back in 2013 either, saying in an interview on the NFL Network, "I'm not sure if I understood the Wheeler deal so quick in free agency."
So if that's the case, then why did I actually have to have the internal debate as to whether the Dolphins must cut Wheeler?
If this were after 2013, it would be much easier, as Pro Football Focus graded out Wheeler at minus-19.5 overall, minus-8.2 against the pass and minus-13.9 against the run.
These grades had him ranked by the site as the worst 4-3 outside linebacker in the league.
In 2014, Wheeler improved. I could actually pinpoint a few games in which he was truly excellent (Week 9 against San Diego and Week 11 against Buffalo come to mind), and he finished the season graded out at 2.6, including a 7.2 grade against the run. The pass grade was still low at minus-4.2, though.
Despite the improvement, I'd still say the Dolphins should release him this offseason. As a whole, the team would be better off with Koa Misi moving back to strong-side linebacker while it drafted or signed a legitimate middle linebacker.
The kicker: It must be a post-June 1 cut in order for the release to really work. If the Dolphins release Wheeler as a pre-June 1 cut, only $200,000 would be saved compared to $3 million after June 1.
Statistics provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com or Pro Football Focus, a subscription-based website. Salary-cap information provided by Spotrac.com and OverTheCap.com.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
.png?w=480)
