The Dolphins are paying premium prices for discount production — and the numbers prove it’s worse than ever in 2025
What’s the opposite of getting bang for your buck?
The Miami Dolphins of recent years have been a team that’s roster has looked good at the start of the year on paper — but that on-paper roster too often hasn’t been the product that the team has seen on the field. In 2022, Miami’s gifted roster was without their starting quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, much too often and the team was without highly paid cornerback Byron Jones all year. The following season, Miami was forced to play the first half of the year without Jalen Ramsey and the team’s pass rush fell apart by the time the playoffs rolled around. In 2024? It was Tagovailoa and the pass rush missing action once again.
The team’s offensive line has endured major missed starts throughout the entirety of the Mike McDaniel era. The football operation’s philosophy has, generally, been to shrug one’s shoulders. McDaniel has uttered the phrase “there’s a 100% injury rate in football” more than once.
But 2025, despite the health of Tua Tagovailoa and the pass rushers, marks a new low for Miami. They’re not seeing production from the dollars they’re spending on the field, injuries or not.
Dolphins’ investments measured among the league’s worst thus far in 2025
Spotrac, one of the internet’s marquee salary cap and contract resources, has put together a metric designed at measuring the efficiency of dollars being spent by teams. The objective — to measure how much bang for your buck each team is getting from the dollars they’re spending on both sides of the football.
The good news for Miami is that the usual suspects for injury have been on the field. Tua Tagovailoa has not missed time. Bradley Chubb and Jaelan Phillips were healthy before Phillips was traded on Monday. Star defenders like Minkah Fitzpatrick and Jordyn Brooks have been available. Yes, the Dolphins are missing wide receiver Tyreek Hill and the right side of their offensive line.
But beggars can’t be choosers. That’s the good news for Miami. The bad news is that even with the players they do have on the field, Miami’s investment into the 2025 roster under the direction of former GM Chris Grier is among the worst performers per dollar in the league.
Miami Dolphins’ highest paid players in 2025
- QB Tua Tagovailoa – $51.046M in cash
- WR Tyreek Hill (injured reserve) – $27.65M in cash
- SAF Minkah Fitzpatrick – $17.5M in cash
- DT Zach Sieler – $17.285M in cash
13 NFL defenses measure worse per dollar than what Miami has wrapped up in their unit per the Spotrac metrics. It’s a sign that Miami is not invested on this side of the ball financially. But the offensive side of the ball? Only Minnesota, Cleveland, and Philadelphia rank worse. And Cleveland is paying Deshaun Watson to sit at home.
It’s the combination of both sides of the ball that creates a truly devastating outcome. Miami is among the four worst performers as a total team relative to their dollars spent on the 2025 roster. Given that the injury luck has been tough but not devastating like is has been in years past, it only further justifies the change Miami is embarking on amid a new general manager hunt this fall.
If the production doesn’t match the money in the back half of the season better, Miami may be looking for a new head coach this offseason, too.