The Miami Dolphins exit the first weekend of the 2021 league calendar year with a number of fresh faces on the roster. In many ways, the signings were predictable — the Dolphins targeted young players in the prime of their career and attacked team needs relentlessly. The ink is dry for WR Will Fuller on a 1-year contract, the trade for LB Benardrick McKinney is processed and the Dolphins have successfully introduced a number of other talents to the South Florida media.
We’re off and running.
But where will the Dolphins run from here? The team is set to lock into NFL Draft mode in the coming weeks — and the team will do so having burnt up the majority of their 2021 salary cap space. Where do the Dolphins go from here? And where do they rank among the league with cap space and spending power after the first weekend of the 2021 league calendar year?
According to Over The Cap, Miami sits 12th in the NFL in cap space with $12,064,326 in cap room. There are just 13 teams in the league with cap room in excess of $10M as things currently stand and the Dolphins are a stone’s throw from cracking the top-8 in the league once again. A flurry of spending has knocked down teams like the New England Patriots, who were once upon a time near the top of teams as it relates to 2021 spending power but now trail the Dolphins.
Miami is within $3M of climbing back up to near where they ranked at the start of the spending window — the Dolphins started the league year ranked 8th in cap space and could get back up to 9th overall with even just a single cut to the current roster.
But until the Dolphins have a motivation to make a roster move, they’ll likely stand firm with the players they currently have. Miami will need to strategize how to fit a top-heavy 2021 NFL Draft class under their cap as well. That is, of course, provided they don’t ship some of those picks away to make a splash and add veterans to the team instead.
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