The pecking order for the 2026 Miami Dolphins in a major figure may not look how you’d guess it would
Who are the top-5 highest cash commitments the 2026 Miami Dolphins currently have on the books for this season?
The budget in South Florida this season is a little tighter than the past five years or so for the Miami Dolphins.
Spending is down. Way, way down. The strategy comes with an eye to the future, where the Miami Dolphins will find themselves among the league leaders in salary cap space starting as soon as 2027. But cash, not salary cap, rules the roost when you’re planning for future flexibility. Who are the top expenses left on the books for the Miami Dolphins in 2026 as things currently stand?
Who are the current top-5 cash commitments for the 2026 Miami Dolphins?
5. RB De’Von Achane – $10,000,000 in 2026 cash
The Dolphins just got this deal done. When you consider how good Achane was in 2025 and the fact that he ranks fifth in cash owed this season (for now), it’s hard to not think this thing played out pretty well for the franchise. Achane is locked in to place long-term and is already behind two rookies for cash received this season. That said, Achane will do laps around both rookies when it comes time for 2027 and 2028 compensation.
4. CB Chris Johnson (Rookie) – $11,373,832 in 2026 cash* (Not signed yet)
The Dolphins’ later first-round draft choice gets nearly a $10.5 million signing bonus per OverTheCap, then a base salary stacked on top of it. He has not signed his deal yet, but the formal dollars around the rookie contracts are predetermined — there’s no negotiating there. So Johnson is technically set to to be the second-highest paid player on the defense. That is, of course, until LB Jordyn Brooks get an extension. Brooks is currently owed $7 million this season and did not make the list.
3. OT Kadyn Proctor (Rookie) – $16,613,176 in 2026 cash* (Not signed yet)
Honk if you had Kadyn Proctor currently posting the top dollar figure for the Dolphins’ offensive line this season?
Like Chris Johnson, this could be short-lived. The Dolphins’ continuing negotiations with All-Pro center Aaron Brewer will ultimately determine the full pecking order of the cash hierarchy this season in Miami. But yeah…top-12 rookie picks get paid big-time signing bonuses. Proctor’s was big enough to check in third on the current list — although he, too, technically has yet to sign.
2. DT Zach Sieler – $16,745,000 in 2026 cash
Cheers to Sieler, who gets the distinction as the highest-paid contract to survive the 2026 purge. That’s neat!
Sieler, surrounded by rookies on the defensive interior last season, wasn’t quite up to his 2023 and 2024 standard at defensive tackle. But he can still play at a high level and I thought we saw flashes of the “old” Zach down the stretch. Hopefully a more experienced group around him can draw out more of the disruptive player Sieler showed he could be when he posted back-to-back 10 sack seasons.
1. QB Malik Willis – $23,500,000 in 2026 cash
This gamble is expensive but it is also calculated. No one is making more on this roster than new starting quarterback Malik Willis. The dollar amount is big — but it is easily absorbable as compared to some of the other quarterback contracts across the NFL. That includes the one the Dolphins just moved on from.
If Willis plays well, this will still be considered a surplus value for the team. That’s just how quarterback economics work.
1*. QB Tua Tagovailoa – $54,000,000 in 2026 cash
Whoops! Tagovailoa isn’t under contract with the Dolphins anymore but he’s still getting more than twice the amount of cash from the team as the actual highest paid player. It’s not great, gang. And that’s exactly why spending elsewhere around this team is way down for 2026.
To put Tua’s cash owed into perspective, it is 2/3rds of cash the top-5 players actually on the team are getting combined.
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