How the NFL's officially announced 2026 salary cap mark impacts the Miami Dolphins' offseason outlook

The rapid expansion of the cap on an annual basis will help Miami to transition away from the costly debt they rolled up against the cap from 2020 through 2025. But, as we already mentioned, this year will be tight. The OverTheCap.com calculation for Miami, which was using a universal, non-team adjusted figure of $303.5 million for every team, had the Dolphins with $3.1 million in cap space entering the day today. But adjusting that $303.5 million figure to the actual announced total of $301.2 million today, the Dolphins are projected to sit approximately $900,000 under the salary cap per the OverTheCap.com numbers.

Needless to say, the cap juggling for Miami is not finished. The Dolphins have several other moves to undertake, whether they include Minkah Fitzpatrick, Austin Jackson, Tua Tagovailoa, or someone else.

It has already been reported that pass rusher Bradley Chubb will be released as well, although the general assumption is that move will be posted as a Post-June 1 designated cut, which will save the Dolphins $20 million in 2026 cap space...starting June 2nd. Needless to say, Miami needs to get to work over the next week and a half before the league year opens.