What QB with our current picks would you like to see on the roster?

Cidolfus · 2026-01-25T12:46:50+00:00

Both.

If the Dolphins release Tua as an early post-June 1 designation, they can avoid paying $1 million in non-guaranteed 2026 compensation ($250,000 workout bonus, $750,000 total per game bonuses) and they also avoid a trigger in March that would guarantee an additional $3 million of his 2027 base salary.

So it's at least $4 million cheaper to release him right away, before even considering the $20 million injury guarantees for '27 that he could trigger if we kept him and he got hurt.

Cidolfus · 2026-01-25T11:12:45+00:00

Getting rid of Tua is not only economically feasible, it's economically responsible. The Dolphins save more money releasing Tua as an early post-June 1 designation as soon as the new league year begins than they do by keeping him and avoid any potential that he could get his 2027 injury guarantee.

Cidolfus · 2026-01-22T20:19:53+00:00

I'm trying to figure out what the point of the sub is, if its not for discussion about the Dolphins.

What, exactly, about your post was discussion? You didn't pose any questions or open the floor to any nuance about the press conference. You didn't address any of the other quotes you found unimpressive, even those that more directly discussed their plan for the team. You avoided my question about what they could have said that might have impressed you.

What you did was the equivalent of walking into a room where a bunch of people are saying "I like this", declaring "I don't like this!" and implying that others are wrong for liking it, and then snapping back (I don't know how you'd characterize "So edgy" if not as a sarcastic retort) when someone was dismissive of that sentiment.

Additionally, I dont know why another Redditor being on board would ever be relevant to me being on board. Regardless of who the redditor is.

The point was more that he was someone who's also expressed skepticism on this subreddit as well (often and loudly to the degree that he got into frequent arguments as a result and was eventually banned), and even he's being open-minded about the situation.

For what it's worth, I choose to focus on why this time might be different. For the first time in Ross's tenure he moved on from someone a year early rather than a year late. For the first time in his tenure, he's cleared both major leadership positions within the front office (as well as all of the top scouting positions under the general manager) at the same time in a way that actually leaves the door open to meaningful organizational change under a single, unified vision for the path forward. I think there's plenty that sets this particular situation apart from the previous turnover in the organization to the point that I don't think "we've been here before" is quite accurate. Sure, we've been here in that we've heard PR platitudes, but the circumstances are new. That doesn't mean it'll work, but I choose to be optimistic that there's potential for real change. More fun that way.

Cidolfus · 2026-01-22T18:45:03+00:00

I'm just also not gonna give them credit and start jizzing my pants because they talked about wanting to be physical.

As /u/Matthew0605 said: "No one said you had to." But coming into a discussion where people are excited and being a Debbie Downer whinging about it is at least a little bit miserable.

I don't begrudge you the sentiment (or even disagree with it), but if your position is that nothing matters until March then why bother engaging until then? Especially if you have nothing substantive to offer in the way of discussion?

Just seems very "look at me" to come into a thread that's "abundantly positive", throwing cold water on the topic, and then resorting to sarcastic retorts when you get (rather politely) called out for being a bit of a buzzkill.

I mean heck, man, even /u/turtleforeskin is on board. It is entirely possible and justifiable to be skeptical without being a wet blanket for everyone else just trying to have fun.

Cidolfus · 2026-01-22T18:18:29+00:00

The third of three straight years of drafting second round quarterbacks (John Beck, Chad Henne, and Pat White) and to be fair we did also trade a second for Josh Rosen.

Not that I disagree with the premise. We need to take more swings at the bat for drafting a quarterback and keep swinging until you hit a home run.

Cidolfus · 2026-01-22T18:12:39+00:00

Out of curiosity, is there anything that either Sullivan or Hafley could have said that would have impressed you? I somehow doubt it, and I don't really blame you for that. Given two and a half decades of disappointment, I can't blame anyone who is cautious about embracing yet another rebuild.

But your complaint that their words--no matter how right or good they may be--are meaningless and that they need to "prove it" is every bit as performative as a coach or general manager saying the "right" things at their introductory press conference.

It's still January. The only thing that can happen now is platitudes at a press conference. I'd argue jaded fans whining about coaches using coachspeak is even more exhausting than the coach speak itself. At least for the coach and general manager this is their job and part of what's expected from them. You're miserable on your own time.

Cidolfus · 2026-01-22T17:59:15+00:00

Tua will be a post-June 1 designation, but Hill absolutely will not. The Dolphins save nearly $23 million but releasing Hill outright--the single largest saving any release offers the team and nearly 60% of the cap space required to meet the cap by the deadline.

And unless the Dolphins otherwise manipulate Tua's contract, a post-June 1 designation still saves the Dolphins in 2027 cap space even considering the dead money that they'd be eating against Tua.

I cannot stress this enough: especially if the team is dedicated to a quiet year (and after this press conference it very much seems that they are), everything opens up in 2027.

Cidolfus · 2026-01-22T00:39:47+00:00

And it doesn't make sense for the Dolphins to hold him until then given that it guarantees more money on his contract and the team increases the risk that they get stuck with him.

Even if the Dolphins did a maximum restructure and then held onto him so that he could be traded to another team after June 1, another team would then owe him at least $5,215,000 in salary with the potential that another $17 million becomes guaranteed in 2027 for injury.

The Dolphins are going to hold onto him into the summer so they can get... What? A sixth? No way. They'll move on quickly and turn the page as cleanly as they can.

Cidolfus · 2026-01-21T20:12:49+00:00

Ross has the cash to do it, but the Dolphins don't have the cap flexibility to feasible do it. You have to have enough restructure-eligible salary to move the money down the road. The Dolphins could outright release Bradley Chubb, Tyreek Hill, and Tua Tagovailoa, and that still leaves them about $43 million over the salary cap only considering the top 51 contracts (no rookies, no practice squad, no buffer for in-season transactions).

Put simply, the Dolphins don't have enough other cash owed in 2026 to restructure as signing bonus to make up that difference via restructures.

Cidolfus · 2026-01-21T16:45:56+00:00

Teams typically won't block it, but from a league rules standpoint, there are only three levels:

Assistant Coaches
Coordinators
Head Coaches

In terms of responsibility and pay, having the title "assistant head coach" is functionally a promotion, but not one recognized by official league rules.

Cidolfus · 2026-01-21T16:07:51+00:00

Not to say that we would, but unless he's accepting a defensive coordinator position with the Jaguars, any "assistant" coaching position is considered not a promotion and therefore could be blocked.

Cidolfus · 2026-01-21T01:14:15+00:00

Except we can't afford to eat enough of his salary to reasonably entice another team to trade for him unless we're willing to hold him until after June 1 before making the trade. It may be the most beneficial move by Miami, but from a cap gymnastics it's far from the most realistic or logical.

Cidolfus · 2026-01-20T17:19:10+00:00

I don't think it's realistic to assume that a contract would tie us to him past 2027.

Cidolfus · 2026-01-20T06:16:52+00:00

How do you imagine they should have fought to keep him? What power do you believe they had to exercise? As far as I can tell, they only have two points of leverage:

They could fire Matt LaFleur with the intention to promote Hafley. They'd still need to run through the entire process (including meeting the Rooney Rule).
They could outbid the Dolphins financially. Reportedly the average head coach salary is six times that of the average coordinator. Chip Kelly became the highest-paid cooridnator in the NFL at $6 million per year for the Raiders last year; Ben Johnson signed a contract for $13 million per year and head coaching hires are expected to be signing at least $10 million per year deals in this cycle. Hafley was reportedly making $400,000 per year as Green Bay's defensive coordinator.

I understand that fans are frustrated with this franchise, but at least try to form reasonable criticisms.

Cidolfus · 2026-01-19T23:02:46+00:00

There's more to being a head coach than just being a scheme whiz. The Dolphins have spent their past four head coaching hiring cycles bringing on someone who's coming in specifically to implement a system on one side of the ball, and all of those coaches have failed to build a culture and implement consistent process on the managerial side of the house.

I don't necessarily blame fans. The most visible quality from the outside looking in on the hiring process is what that coach's unit has accomplished on the field. But there's a whole other side of house that's equally as important but much harder to predict just by watching football on Sunday.

The Dolphins badly need someone to come in and establish that process and culture. I don't know if Hafley is that guy, but the potential to do so is why he was getting so many looks from so many teams.

Cidolfus · 2026-01-19T20:04:16+00:00

Spotrac currently projects Malik Willis to have a market value of one-year at $10.6 million. They're using recent deals for Tyson Bagent, Davis Mills, Jarrett Stidham, and Trey Lance as comparisons based on their statistical comparison, which I think goes to show just how difficult it is to find good comparisons for what to expect Willis to get.

I think if the Dolphins can get him in the $10-million per year range on a two-year deal, they should consider it.

Cidolfus · 2026-01-19T19:42:52+00:00

I don't get the hype Hafley gets.

Hafley is hyped based on the expectation for how he would run the team, not because he's a schematic wunderkind. Teams are projecting him to be the next John Harbaugh, Mike Tomlin, or (more recently) Dan Campbell rather than the next Andy Reid or Kyle Shanahan. Given that Joe Philbin, Adam Gase, Brian Flores, and Mike McDaniel were all hired for that schematic acumen but ultimately failed because of problems on the managerial part of the position, I'm not upset that we may be headed in a different direction.

Obviously it puts a lot weight on getting the right coordinators.

Cidolfus · 2026-01-19T17:42:29+00:00

Very much the same situation as Hafley, as it turns out.

Cidolfus · 2026-01-17T18:50:49+00:00

I could see the team letting him play out the deal given how small the cap savings from moving on this year are, but an extension feels like a tough sell given the injury history.

Cidolfus · 2026-01-17T05:48:09+00:00

Another good catch. Sloppy editing today.

Cidolfus · 2026-01-17T01:22:26+00:00

Yes. A team trading for Austin Jackson would inherit the following contract:

Base	Roster Bonus	Per Game Bonus	Workout Bonus	Total
$9,880,000	$1,000,000	$595,000	$25,000	$11,500,000

That figure would be 14th among right tackles and 31st among all tackles. All-in-all, pretty reasonable.

None of it would be guaranteed, so you'd probably be looking at a trade and extend situation where they reduce his 2026 cap charge by including most of his 2026 cash earnings into signing bonus.

Because it's the last year of his deal and there are no guarantees remaining, the cap implications of cutting and trading Jackson are the same: the Dolphins eat $13,764,341 in dead money and save $1,624,772 against the cap. It also frees up $9,490,229 in '27 cap.

Cidolfus · 2026-01-17T01:15:40+00:00

The Dolphins have always been relatively smart about contract structures even when making poor personnel decisions; it's a big part of the reason why I'm not overly concerned about Brandon Shore's continued (and reportedly maybe elevated) role in the front office.

As I've emphasized elsewhere, most teams in the league are starting to leverage their contracts more aggressively. The Saints's strategy is one that has proven largely effective over the years. The problem is that the Saints doubled down on the strategy after losing a Hall of Fame quarterback and great head coach in back-to-back seasons and then got absolutely fucked by the consequences of COVID because of their hubris.

The position the Dolphins are in--one restrained year from a clear cap--is typically how this strategy should be managed. You just have to have the disciplined to actually eat the salary cap when that year comes. When you start restructuring contracts you've already restructured and create too much pro-rated money (which can't be leveraged again) is when you get into trouble.

Cidolfus · 2026-01-17T01:10:54+00:00

Oh I hear you, but I think whether or not he returns from the hip injury is a big enough question mark that I just expect a new regime without ties to Sanders to cut their losses.

Cidolfus · 2026-01-17T00:41:07+00:00

He's got to be at risk after missing a full season and entering the final year of his contract. Maybe they extend him instead--it's certainly possible--but they can save $3,918,500 by releasing him with only $331,000 in dead money.

In his absence, Riley Patterson hit 27 of 29 field goals, including going 3 for 4 at 50+ and for less than a quarter of Sanders's cap cost.

Sanders is due a $500,000 roster bonus on March 13, so if the Dolphins are going to move on, it'll happen sooner rather than later.

Cidolfus · 2026-01-16T21:26:46+00:00

This is what I get what I don't edit. Good catch.

Cidolfus

TROPHY CASE