Suh's monster deal is already causing cap issues for the Dolphins
Suh's contract will still cause them cap issues down the road.
When the Miami Dolphins gave Ndamukong Suh the largest ever contract for a defensive player last offseason, it was immediately apparent that the deal would cause salary cap issues in the future, no matter how it was structured. Not even a year later, Miami's lead football decision maker, Mike Tannenbaum, wants to figure out a way to restructure the deal so the team can make other moves in this year's free agency.
"By the time we get to the first day of the league year, we should have plenty of room to address the needs that we have," Tannenbaum told reporters at the Senior Bowl this week, per ESPN. "Certainly we will be looking at Suh's contract."
The Dolphins will likely look to convert some of Suh's 2016 base salary into a signing bonus, which they could then spread out over the remainder of his contract. That would increase the amount of guaranteed money they owe him, but provide some cap relief to a team that is currently strapped.
According to Spotrac, the Dolphins are more than $7 million over the cap for the 2016 season right now. A large part of the reason for that is Suh's $28 million cap hit, which includes a base salary of $23,485,000. That base salary is a massive jump from last year's base of just $985,000, which the Dolphins made that low so they could fit him onto last year's payroll.
Even with Suh in tow, the Miami defense was not exactly dominant this year. They could use a whole lot of help on the back end of the defense considering they finished the 2015 season 25th in pass defense DVOA (Football Outsiders' Defense-adjusted Value Over Average, which adjusts performance for down, distance, and opponent), for example. Considering that need and the fact that both pass-rusher Olivier Vernon and Lamar Miller (their best offensive player) are free agents, the Dolphins need to create as much room as they can.
They could create that room in other ways -- cutting Brent Grimes and Greg Jennings would save about $10.5 million, just to name one quick and easy way to generate some more wiggle room -- but the way to create the most room while doing the least amount of thinning of the current roster is to restructure Suh's deal. Doing so will cause them more cap issues down the road. These types of cap gymnastics are typical of teams that hand out big-money deals they don't really have the current cap room to afford.
