The Miami Dolphins’ offseason plan has been largely on hold for the past two months while the team awaited a solution to their standoff with cornerback Jalen Ramsey. That situation was, finally, resolved this past week.

With the development that the Miami Dolphins have traded Ramsey, along with tight end Jonnu Smith, to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Dolphins can now shift their focus towards the corresponding moves that must be made to address a few lingering weak points on the roster. But what kind of cap hurdles do the team have to clear in order to execute additional moves? That requires some insight on a very different Dolphins cap situation than the one the team had a week ago.

Ramsey & Jonnu Smith savings are offset by Minkah Fitzpatrick

The Dolphins, according to the NFL Player’s Association and their daily public salary cap report, have $14.001 million in salary cap space — but that figure does not reflect any formalized trades from this past week. Jalen Ramsey, had the Dolphins not been required to absorb any additional salary to facilitate a trade, would have cost the Dolphins a $10.745 dead cap charge. But Miami paid $3 million of Ramsey’s outstanding salary, meaning he’ll hit the books after this trade is processed for a $13.745 million dead cap charge in 2025.

This figure will provide the Dolphins with $2.916 million in 2025 salary cap savings. Tight end Jonnu Smith’s offloaded salary saves the Dolphins an additional $4.09 million in salary cap savings. In total, the Dolphins secured $6.925 million in 2025 salary cap savings.

But Minkah Fitzpatrick returns as a part of the deal with two years remaining on his current contract. $15.5 million is due as base salary this season, all of which will need to be accounted against this year’s salary cap unless the Dolphins restructure or extend his contract. An extension is, in part, what got the Dolphins into their current mess in the first place — they’d probably be wise to hold off on that front.

But with a starting point of $14.001 million, $6.925 million in savings after the trade, and $15.5 million in new commitments in 2025 from Minkah Fitzpatrick leaves the Dolphins tighter to the salary cap versus where they started on Monday. You must also add the salary of a new 51st player to qualify against the salary cap during the offseason since this trade has two players going out and one player returning.

In all, the Dolphins’ top-51 salary cap room is set to be reduced to under $4.5 million after the Ramsey trade is processed unless they immediately restructure Fitzpatrick’s (or someone else’s) contract.

Additional cap commitments linger

This does not include the team’s contract for tight end Darren Waller, who the Dolphins agreed to acquire one day after agreeing to send Jonnu Smith to Pittsburgh in the Ramsey deal. It also does not include the necessary cap commitment needed for second-round draft choice Jonah Savaiinaea’s contract. Savaiinaea is among the 30 second-round rookies waiting to sign their contract in an effort to try to collect a fully-guaranteed rookie contract.

The cost of Savaiinaea’s contract is static thanks to the collective bargaining agreement’s rookie wage scale but the fine print on guarantees is a part of the league-wide logjam. His signing will cost the Dolphins just over an additional $1 million in cap space for 2025 versus the current 51st player on their salary cap books.

Waller, on the other hand, is a bit of a mystery still. His contract is reported to be worth “up to” $5 million. The amount of heavy lifting being done by the phrase “up to” is yet to be determined but regardless of how much is classified as a “base salary” or as a “signing bonus’ could keep the Dolphins under their diminished cap limit.

Other moves awaiting

Miami is going to need to massage some contracts either way. Whether it’s Fitzpatrick’s newly acquired $15.5 million or salaries for players like center Aaron Brewer and linebacker Jordyn Brooks, Miami will need more cap space to accommodate the budget for their 2025 practice squad, plus have enough operating cap to handle transactions throughout the course of the 2025 season as injuries happen and new players need to be added.

The Dolphins have also shown interest in several free agent cornerbacks, which would be a wise investment after trading Ramsey. As such, expect to see some cap maneuvering from the Miami Dolphins in the weeks ahead as they attempt to finalize their roster ahead of training camp. They’ve executed the first step of their summer plan but almost all of their further corresponding moves will require them to reclassify some cash to finish moving their pieces on the board.