It has begun. The first few cuts made their way public for the Miami Dolphins, as the team announced yesterday that it was cutting veteran DE Andre Branch and OL Ted Larsen.
The cuts, which will save the Dolphins over $9M against the salary cap in 2019, were not unexpected.
Both Larsen (21) and Branch (26) have been starters for the Dolphins over the last two seasons, but neither player’s performance warranted keeping them around as fixture of the future.
Larsen, who joined the team in 2017, started nearly the entire 2018 season for the Dolphins but was considered one of the worst starting guards in all of football.
Branch parlayed a strong 2016 season in Miami into a three-year extension, one that he will not see the end of now that the Dolphins have cut ties.
Both Larsen and Branch are free to sign with any team at any point, although given their status as declining players, the market for both should dictate that there won’t be much of a demand.
The Dolphins are expected to continue making cuts over the next couple of days in advance of the start of the 2019 league calendar on March 13th. Depending on who else is cut (or traded), the Dolphins can clear up in excess of another $50M in salary cap space.
