The start of the new league year is less than a week away, meaning all 32 teams need to be under the salary cap before the 4 p.m. deadline on March 15.
The Miami Dolphins have already begun trimming some of their cap hits to ensure that they comply with the NFL’s rules, as they cut tight end Cethan Carter, informed cornerback Byron Jones that he’d be released with a post-June 1 designation and restructured linebacker Bradley Chubb’s contract.
After all that, the Dolphins were still $595,000 over the salary cap, according to Spotrac, so there was more work to be done.
Early Friday morning, ESPN’s Field Yates reported that Miami has restructured left tackle Terron Armstead’s contract, creating another $11.88 million in cap space. The former New Orleans Saint had both roster bonuses and base salary that the team could convert to a signing bonus, stretching out the cap hits over multiple years rather than just 2023.
Armstead, 31, signed a five-year, $75 million contract to join the Dolphins last offseason as their cornerstone left tackle. In 2022, he dealt with a number of injuries but still played in 13 games despite having the option to get season-ending surgery after the opener.
Miami should have roughly $11.28 million in cap space, at the moment. They’ll get more after Jones’ release officially hits the books in June, however, they’ll likely need to make more room to attack free agency and work on extensions with players like Christian Wilkins.
