The Miami Dolphins quietly slipped the contract extension of LB Benardrick McKinney onto the team’s transaction page to close the week last week — kicking off speculation about what Miami may be reshuffling their salary cap for. Was this a conversion of base salary into a signing bonus as a means of manufacturing more cap space for the 2021 season?
Well, now we know.
And the Dolphins certainly did manufacture more cap space for the coming year; but they didn’t convert money into a signing bonus to prorate out over the course of the remaining years of McKinney’s contract — instead they wiped those years of his contract away clean and effectively negotiated a pay cut for McKinney in 2021. The linebacker will now, according to reports, play with a $3M base salary and cost the Dolphins $4M less against the cap than he was previously scheduled for.
Dolphins restructured Benardrick McKinney’s contract. Now due $3M salary this year, with $750K gtd; down from original $7.75M 2021. New cap figure $3M, but can become free agent in 2022 as 2022 and 2023 years removed in restructure. Was due $8.75M and $9.5 million in those years
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) July 28, 2021
Saving $4M in 2021 and then an additional $18.25M over the next two seasons is quite the cap cleaning maneuver — and it puts McKinney in the pressure cooker for 2021 to perform at a high level. When Miami traded DE Shaq Lawson for McKinney earlier this season, it seemed as though the Dolphins had their eyes on a fixture for the next several seasons. But this restructure paints a very different picture: do or die for McKinney in Miami this season.
The Dolphins are currently in the middle of a public contract dispute with CB Xavien Howard. And there will be those who point to this pay cut as evidence that teams often roll back on preexisting agreements and use it as evidence for Miami needing to appease their star cornerback. And perhaps that’s what the team will do with the $4M they’ve saved in restructuring McKinney.
One thing we do know, however, is that Miami has halved their cap obligation to the former Texan and now suddenly has a little bit of cash to spend in 2021 (and a lot more cash to spend in 2022 and 2023).
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