Dolphins make Waddle the No. 4 highest-paid wideout

[Downunder Dolphan]

I think we're going to find out if Waddle is a true #1 a lot sooner than some people think.

With the recent generous extensions of JJ by the Vikings (and Waddle by us), Tyreek's manager has already indicated he wants more money.

The problem is, we just don't have it. We are already projected to be almost $16M over the cap in 2025! That's before any kind of Tua contract (let alone anyone else).

As it is, Hill's cap number for the projected final 2026 season of his current contract is a staggering $56.3 million. There's a little room to negotiate, if Hill is willing to take more in the way of guaranteed money for a lower contract - but from the early language it doesn't sound like that's the way it will head.

If there is no agreement, Miami could cut Hill, eating $22.6 million in cap space, but saving $11.6 million - or they could release him before the 2025 season, taking on $11.3 million in dead money but saving $45 million.

I'm thinking the most likely option is that 2024 will be the final season we will see Tyreek Hill in a Dolphins jersey, and he will either be traded or cut by 2025.

[CF DolFan]

According to people close to the Dolphins they will resign Hill right after Tua. Looking forward in years about being over is not very productive because there is so much voodoo to be done on current salaries and the cap will likely rise higher than expected.

Tyreek yesterday when asked about it.

“I’m going to let my agent do his job,” Hill said. “His job is to be great at that and my job is to obviously come out here and continue to do whatever I can to help this team win. Whether that’s a restructure, whatever the case may be, we want to make sure that it benefits both sides and I want to be able to help the team as much as I can.”

.....

“It’s a great day in the Hill household. Everybody waking up happy,” Hill said. “At the same time, I want to be able to help the team as much as I can. Obviously, we already know being greedy ain’t going to help the team.

[Dave Gray]

That's good to hear.  It has to be fair -- he has to have the ability to do well, because he's the best.  But if it can prolong his career, keep him in a good landing spot, and he's happy, that can go a long way.

[CF DolFan]

From what people like Omar have said ... they believe the Dolphins will extend him like they did X rather than blow up this contract. It's my opinion that he's still our best player and we can't afford to make him unhappy. He also isn't afraid to play hurt which will always get bonus points from me.

[Downunder Dolphan]

From what people like Omar have said ... they believe the Dolphins will extend him like they did X rather than blow up this contract. It's my opinion that he's still our best player and we can't afford to make him unhappy. He also isn't afraid to play hurt which will always get bonus points from me.

Where is the money for this going to come from? Which other players are we going to lose to enable this, because we can't afford his existing contract as it stands now?

[CF DolFan]

Where is the money for this going to come from? Which other players are we going to lose to enable this, because we can't afford his existing contract as it stands now?

I'm far from being a cap specialist but I do know next year's money can gets stretched out in the form of a bonus and the following 2 years are manageable numbers until we can release him like we did X.

[Fau Teixeira]

This year's money is concrete, next year's cap responsibilities are all smoke and mirrors. In brief, it doesn't matter. You can restructure contracts to push cap liabilities further down the road.
And it's not your money, it's Steven Ross's money they're spending, so who cares.

[Downunder Dolphan]

This year's money is concrete, next year's cap responsibilities are all smoke and mirrors. In brief, it doesn't matter. You can restructure contracts to push cap liabilities further down the road.
And it's not your money, it's Steven Ross's money they're spending, so who cares.

It doesn't matter that it's Ross's money. It matters because some day these other guys are going to have to get paid, and if you choose to ignore it, tomorrows problem eventually becomes now's problem.

This offseason we lost half of our defensive starters and arguably our best offensive lineman for the last four years because we didn't have the money to re-sign any of them. We did not even have the money to franchise tag one of them. We still have to decide on Tua, Holland, maybe a possible Conor Williams extension, and sometime soon after that Phillips (maybe earlier, seeing as we already have given Waddle a juicy extension).