Dolphins Predicted To Part With Defensive Piece In Offseason

The Miami Dolphins are starting their offseason much earlier than they had hoped. With the squandering of their lead in the AFC East, they didn’t get a home game during Super Wild Card Weekend. Instead, they had to go on the road and face the Kansas City Chiefs in frigid Arrowhead.

With temperatures going into the negative throughout the game, the Dolphins were out of their element. Despite being the healthiest they have been in a while on offense, they were unable to sustain many drives throughout the game.

Miami managed only 264 yards of total offense, 53 of which came on their only score of the game, a touchdown reception by Tyreek Hill. The Dolphins’ defense did what it could to try and keep the team in the game, but it was too much to beat Patrick Mahomes and company on the road.

With their offseason now underway, the Dolphins have some work to do this offseason. While they have found success in the regular season under Mike McDaniel, this is a team that is lacking something to be considered a true contender.

Nearly $41 million over the salary cap, the front office will have their work cut out for them when it comes to adding talent to the roster. Tough decisions will have to be made as there will be cap casualties and reworked contracts.

Who could be on the move? One player to keep an eye on is edge rusher Emmanuel Ogbah. NFL writer Aaron Schatz of ESPN believes that Ogbah is one of the players who the Dolphins will release this offseason for salary relief.

“The Dolphins will cut edge rusher Emmanuel Ogbah, who has played a smaller role this season. He hasn’t played over 40% of the defensive snaps in any game. Cutting Ogbah will save $13.8 million on next year’s cap for Miami while leaving just $4 million in dead money behind,” wrote Schatz.

The writing is likely on the wall for Ogbah when it comes to his future with the team. Despite being down their top three edge rushers against the Chiefs, he still only played 48 percent of the defensive snaps.

That certainly doesn’t bode well for his outlook in Miami. If he was someone who the Dolphins thought could help them win games, he would have played a larger role with Jaelan Phillips, Bradley Chubb and Andrew Van Ginkel all sidelined.

The amount of money they can save releasing him, $13.8 million as Schatz shared, is too much to pass up. The Dolphins are currently in salary cap hell and that amount of money would go a long way to the franchise becoming cap-compliant.