The Miami Dolphins are set to roll forward into another offseason of critical team building in 2021. With one of the youngest rosters in football and so many talents playing on rookie contracts, Miami has one of the most flexible cap situations in the league coming into this offseason. But that doesn’t mean that Miami is without some significant investments. Which talents on the Dolphins roster are currently scheduled for a major salary cap commitment in excess of $10M next season?
CB Byron Jones
2021 Cap Hit: $16.1M
This is to be expected when you sign a (then) record breaking contract for a cornerback in free agency. Jones did well to play as close to the expectations of such a contract as he could — he logged as many interceptions in 2020 (2) as he did in his previous years combined in the NFL and was a viable coverage threat opposite Xavien Howard in Miami’s fierce secondary. Missed tackles were a bit of an issue that Jones must address — he was credited with 9 of them and over 350 yards after the catch allowed on the season. But credit where it is due: Jones came in and helped changed the identity of Miami’s defense overnight.
LB Kyle Van Noy
2021 Cap Hit: $13.9M
Speaking of coming in and changing Miami’s defensive identity overnight, Kyle Van Noy is another 2020 offseason addition who will see a boost in his cap commitments for 2021 after a successful first campaign in Miami. Van Noy showcased his toughness and leadership by playing half the season through a lingering hip injury, one that prompted him at the end of the year to state he played through “a lot of pain”. And yet Van Noy finished a half-sack from his career high, contested more footballs in coverage than in any other season of his career and set a career high in tackles for loss in a single season with 10.
Van Noy does a little bit of everything. And because of that, he’s well worth the cap commitment of two less versatile defenders.
CB Xavien Howard
2021 Cap Hit: $13.5M
Is it possible for a $13.5M cap hit to be a steal? After the season we just saw Xavien Howard produce, it might be. Howard logged 10 interceptions in 2020 (and was inches away from 11 with a tipped pass in Las Vegas); the first time in over a decade an NFL defender has logged double digit interceptions. But it wasn’t just the interceptions that made him dominant. Howard contested a league leading 20 additional passes and allowed an opposer passer rating of 48.3 on 101 targets this season.
Save your other candidates…this is the 2020 Defensive Player of the Year. And he’s well worth this commitment in 2021.
WR DeVante Parker
2021 Cap Hit: $11.05M
Parker is the Dolphins’ most expensive offensive player in 2021 — and he’ll need to wind the clock back to 2019 if he’s going to be worth what his commitments are scheduled for. The Dolphins paid Parker an extension in December of 2019 after finally living up to the standards set for a former 1st-round pick at wide receiver — only to see Parker come up short of expectations in 2020. There were flashes of the same player, but a hamstring injury cost Parker time in several critical late season games and Parker struggled to find chemistry with rookie quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
OG Ereck Flowers
2021 Cap Hit: $10M
Flowers emerged early on as a leader for the Dolphins’ offensive line, but he’s going to struggle to live up to the financial expectations for the contract Miami signed him to. Flowers has revived his career as an offensive guard in the past few seasons after struggling initially at offensive tackle; but he’s a mid-level starter that got a big boost after Miami’s efforts to add a starter on the line in free agency last spring drew dangerously close to coming up empty handed.
