The ESSENTIAL Football Show 
Top 51 Cap Space (per Spotrac): 2026: $1.9 million | 2027: $142.9 million | 2028: $412.3 million
Note: De’Von Achane’s deal is not updated on Spotrac, so take the future numbers w/ a grain of salt
Draft Picks: 2027: | 2028:
Football Decision Makers: GM Jon Eric-Sullivan | HC Jeff Hafley | OC Bobby Slowik | DC Sean Duggan | ST Chris Tabor
State of the Team
It’s hard to know what to say about Miami’s run under general manager Chris Grier except for “I hope that was fun.”
There were times that Mike McDaniel’s offense with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was undoubtedly fun, but Grier’s approach of trading draft picks for top-of-market veterans was always trending towards disaster; once it became clear Miami’s ceiling was nothing like a championship contender with Tagovailoa on his rookie deal, someone needed to hit the ejector seat.
Nobody did; instead, the Dolphins decided that if they couldn’t win a playoff game with Tagovailoa on a rookie deal, the solution was to pay him more than $50 million per year… on a roster with next to nobody contributing on rookie deals after all the picks had been shipped away. (De’Von Achane was a notable exception, but offered limited surplus value due to his position).
Now, as the NFL moves into an era of MASSIVE cap space, general manager Jon Eric-Sullivan and head coach Jeff Hafley are left to rebuild.
They do so with $180 million in dead cap money for 2026 and while their cap space opens to $143 million in 2027, they will still be carrying $57 million in dead cap.
When Miami finally is free and clear in 2028 - they are slated to have over $400 million in cap space - the players scheduled to be on the roster are this year’s rookie class, quarterback Malik Willis, Achane, a 33-year old Zach Seiler, Kenneth Grant, Jonah Savaiinaea, and, to stay on the generous side, backup running back Ollie Gordon.
That’s not to say Miami couldn’t extend players like left tackle Patrick Paul - they certainly could - but it paints the picture of the situation fairly well.
If we wanted to look at a single move that better describes the situation, however, it is the free-agent contract they signed tight end Greg Dulcich to; in order to sign the pass-catching tight end, who posted 26 grabs for 335 yards and a touchdown last season, to a one-year deal for $3.25 million, the Dolphins opted to tack on two void years at $1.4 million in 2026 and $350 thousand in 2027.
I don’t really have an opinion on the move itself. It’s more the need to use that mechanism; if you have so much dead cap piled up that you have to add void years to a deal this modest, it speaks to a pretty lean year (or three) ahead.
Offense
The clear strength of Miami’s roster is the offensive line, where the Dolphins used the 12th overall pick to add Kadyn Proctor to a group that already included veteran center Aaron Brewer and ascending left tackle Patrick Paul. Miami also has Jonah Savaiinaea, a 2025 second-rounder, to pair with Proctor at guard, and 2020 1st-rounder Austin Jackson remains in place as the right tackle.
That this group is the clear strength speaks to the other components on the roster, because there are plenty of questions, whether it’s Jackson’s health, Savaiinaea’s development curve, or Proctor’s transition to the NFL lifestyle at 6’6, 350, with the weight reportedly more of a question. There’s upside here, but there’s also a possibility that this group doesn’t gel.
The highlight of the offense is running back De’Von Achane, but while Malik Willis adds a notable dual threat element at quarterback, I have questions about how this rushing attack comes together. If 3rd-round tight end Will Kacmarek is a dominant blocker out of the box, then Miami has some support for what the offensive line will bring, but that’s a lot to put on a rookie, and Dulcich, for whatever he brings as a pass-catcher, is not going to help much in that regard.
There is a similar dynamic in the receiving room, where free-agent signee Jalen Tolbert is the biggest veteran on the squad at 6’1, 190. The Dolphins drafted some size at receiver, where they did some bulk shopping and got Chris Bell and Caleb Douglas in the 3rd round before adding Kevin Coleman Jr. in the 5th, but as it stands, the 5’8, 195 Malik Washington and 5’9, 165 Tutu Atwell are slated to fill two of the starting three receiver roles.
It all puts a lot on Malik Willis’s shoulders, and Willis is now leaving a coach in Matt LaFleur who has had a lot of success working with different styles of quarterbacks for Bobby Slowik, who was competent, but did not exactly shine as a creative problem-solver when things started going south for him in Houston. Willis is a dynamic athlete who has IMMENSELY improved his craft since his first preseason action in Tennessee, but he is facing a daunting task on a modestly talented offense that is unlikely to get much defensive support.
Defense
It’s one thing for the Chiefs to ask 6th overall pick Mansoor Delane to be the standout in a secondary that already features some solid veteran pieces.
It’s another thing to look at Miami’s depth chart and realize that 27th overall pick Chris Johnson better be good from Day One, because the San Jose State product is the only player in the backend with any sort of draft pedigree, and the veterans in the mix fit solidly under the “journeyman” heading or are on the verge of playing themselves out of the league.
The Dolphins are deepest at linebacker, where they added 2nd-rounder Jacob Rodriguez and 4th-rounder Kyle Louis behind veterans Jordyn Brooks and Tyrel Dodson, but those selections would seemingly put a trade in play, as there is no reason to block the young players on this roster given that having Jordyn Brooks in the middle isn’t going to be the difference in making this unit competitive. (With both Dallas and Cincinnati potentially looking to add backers, Miami might be able to get a solid price for Brooks).
If the defense is going to put up any sort of consistent fight, it has to start up front, and the prospects don’t look great there, either. Zach Seiler is another veteran who has been a “plus” player for this unit over the past few years, but it’s hard to see how that profile pushes the group over the top, and unless Kenneth Grant becomes significantly more impactful next to Seiler, the defensive tackle room is more depth.
On the edge, the Dolphins evidently decided to create a defensive version of their “you must be this short to ride” receiver room with a “you must be this light to ride”, adding two ineffective veteran speed rushers in Josh Uche and David Ojabo before drafting the 6’2, 243 pound Trey Moore in the 4th round.
Final Takeaways
To defend Sullivan and Hafley, this is a very difficult situation to step into.
However, as I review the moves they made this offseason, I’m fairly concerned by the types of players they brought in, and how they envision this team coming together; I’ve joked about the Dolphins and their undersized receivers for several years, but it’s the new staff that decided to add Atwell to the mix.
Miami might not have had their pick of the litter, but I would have liked to see them add more size to the receiver and edge groups; it’s not as if Atwell, Uche, or Ojabo was covering themselves in glory last season, so I assume the Dolphins could have found an equally uninspiring option that at least brought some size and physicality to this roster. It’s worth saying that Kadyn Proctor and Will Kacmarek trend more to that physical side, so it wasn’t a tunnel vision approach, but even so, I don’t look at this collection of moves and see a clear theme in what sort of roster they want from this total rebuild; there’s more a feel of “we have to add players” vibe, and I’m not sure where that will take things.
All things considered - and accounting for the owner’s history - it would be a remarkable accomplishment if Sullivan and Hafley are still employed going into 2028. They may have different assurances behind closed doors, but NFL owners are notoriously fickle, and it is going to take a heck of a lot of things going right for Miami to win football games, not just in 2026, but in 2027.
2028 brings more possibility, but for that to happen, the Dolphins need to start finding core players. Were I a Miami fan, I think that’s where the focus would be this season; if this draft class turns up five players who can confidently be penciled onto the 2028 roster by year’s end, it would represent a notable step in the right direction.