Some of the Miami Dolphins’ rookie class may need to wait to formally take the next step of their journey through no fault of their own
The hard part is done for the Miami Dolphins — they picked 13 rookies. But now they’ve got to sign them and it may require some extra time than otherwise necessary.
The hard part of the Miami Dolphins‘ 2026 rookie infusion is now in the books. Miami has collected a whopping 13 rookie players from this year’s NFL Draft to add to their ranks. Sprinkle in a number of reported undrafted rookie signings and Miami is pushing for 20 first-year players on their offseason roster. Good! I hope they find a few more, while they’re at it.
But now comes the technicalities of it all. Miami needs to get their rookie group to put pen to paper on contracts in the weeks ahead. It is a process that is fairly cut and dry thanks to a pre-determined wage scale. But the Dolphins’ current salary cap situation may force some of these rookies to have to wait longer than would otherwise be needed.
Remember, the Dolphins are in a cap crunch until June 1st.
Which Miami Dolphins rookies are impacted by team’s 2026 salary cap crunch before June 1st?
Former Dolphins pass rusher Bradley Chubb is the savior for Miami’s cap bottleneck. Come June 2nd, his release will be formally processed by the league. At that point, the Dolphins will register north of $20 million in salary cap savings. The relief will allow Miami to operate in all phases this offseason.
Not everyone will need to wait if the details are appropriately ironed out beyond the set financial dollars. Here are the draft choices who will have no impact at all on the top-51 offseason salary cap:
- SAF Michael Taaffe, Texas
- WR Kevin Coleman Jr., Missouri
- TE Seydou Traore, Mississippi State
- OG DJ Campbell, Texas
- EDGE Max Llewellyn, Iowa
Most of the class can fit with minimal loss
None of these players register a 2026 cap charge that surpasses Miami’s current 51st ranked player against the cap, quarterback Quinn Ewers ($1.037M in 2026 cap charges).
Several of Miami’s other mid-round draft choices could be signed without much issue at all. According to the NFLPA’s daily public salary cap report, Miami currently holds $2.836 million in salary cap space. It’s one of the lowest marks across the league, with only the Carolina Panthers having a tighter cap budget than the Dolphins.
But with $2.8 million and change in cap space, several of Miami’s other rookies can ink deals with no questions asked — as their increase to the Dolphins’ cap charges will only start counting from the first dollar that surpasses Ewers’ $1.037 million mark. Once a player with a higher cap charge signs, they’ll bump Ewers from the top-51 players and Ewers will no longer count against the cap. Here are some notable (and affordable) rookie signings that shouldn’t be impacted by Miami’s Pre-June 1st cap situation:
- LB Kyle Louis, Pittsburgh: An additional $47,830 over Ewers
- EDGE/LB Trey Moore, Texas: An additional $112,276 over Ewers
- WR Chris Bell, Louisville: An additional $199,299 over Ewers
- TE Will Kacmarek, Ohio State: An additional $213,800 over Ewers
- WR Caleb Douglas, Texas Tech: An additional $272,825 over Ewers
Top three picks may be impacted
Between these first two groups, Miami will only lose approximately $700,000 in salary cap space when removing the five current bottom players off the top-51 cap to accommodate these signings.
Things get a little more dicey with the early draft choices, as LB Jacob Rodriguez (43rd overall) will carry a cap charge in 2026 of approximately $2.131 million — his signing will dock the Dolphins north of $1 million of their remaining cap charges. Miami’s two first round picks, OL Kadyn Proctor and CB Chris Johnson, will cost $4.8 million and $3.5 million of 2026 cap charges respectively.
Those two, barring a restructure of LB Jordyn Brooks’ base salary, are the ones most at risk of waiting for the Bradley Chubb cap relief in June. We’ll see how the Dolphins handle it. But despite the hefty class and the cap back log, most of these guys should be ‘all systems go’.
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