Omar Kelly: Dolphins must dig franchise out of a financial mess this offseason

Omar Kelly, Miami Herald on Feb 24, 2026

Published in Football

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MIAMI — Have you ever been in so much of a financial bind you have found yourself paying the rent or mortgage, maybe even the car note, with a high-interest credit card?

Month after month, as the interest grows, so does the debt, and eventually the collectors are calling every day, and you’re eventually forced to tighten the budget to dig yourself out of the financial mess you have placed yourself in by living outside your means.

That’s a quick and easy way to explain how the Miami Dolphins got themselves into this period of financial hardship, one that forced the team to cut three season-opening starters, and might possibly force South Florida’s NFL franchise to unload a few more — Minkah Fitzpatrick, Austin Jackson, Jason Sanders and Alec Ingold — via trade or releases.

Offseason after offseason during Mike McDaniel’s four-year tenure Miami spent big, with last year being the lone exception. The franchise traded for expensive players (Tyreek Hill, Bradley Chubb and Jalen Ramsey), and handed out lucrative contracts, and extensions.

The Dolphins kept running up the tab each offseason, and restructuring contracts (paying bills with a credit card) to make the finances work, knowing eventually the bill would be due.

That due date is this offseason, when free agency begins on March 9.

Miami’s roster is full of holes at all but three positions — tailback, defensive tackle and inside linebacker — and the Dolphins have a little more than $3 million in cap space to work with, and there are very few avenues to create more.

The Dolphins are one of 12 teams with less than $5 million in cap space heading into the start of free agency two weeks from now.

And that’s before figuring out what to do with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, whom the Dolphins will attempt to find a trade partner for at this week’s NFL Combine, which is more about free agent shopping than it is evaluating 2026 NFL draft prospects.

Keep in mind trading, or releasing Tagovailoa will create a $11 million loss of cap space. And that’s before finding his replacement even comes into play.

The bottom line is, these are belt-tightening times, and it means owner Steve Ross’ usual big-spending approach to free agency has to be put on ice as Miami goes thrifting this spring to find a few minimum-salary steals.

At the moment, the Dolphins barely have enough cap space to place the lowest restricted tender on tight end Julian Hill, whom the franchise has developed for the past three seasons, because that $3.5 million tender would swallow up the team’s little available cap space.

New general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan and coach Jeff Hafley will tell the world this is how they want to do business, building a roster through the draft. But there is only so much talent a dozen or so million in cap space, and eight draft picks, — maybe nine if the Dolphins are given a compensatory pick for last year’s free agent defections — can add.

Especially when South Florida’s NFL franchise is embarking on a full-scale reset and must find a possible franchise quarterback, two starting offensive linemen (is Jonah Savaiinaea really a starter in 2026?), three tight ends (all but Jaylin Conyers are free agents), three receivers (Jaylen Waddle and Malik Washington are it), at least three edge rushers (Chop Robinson’s all alone since Bradley Chubb iss being cut), at least three cornerbacks (Rasul Douglas, Jack Jones and Kader Kohou are all free agents), three safeties (is Fitzpatrick staying, or being sold) in one free agent cycle, and draft class.

While the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots, the two Super Bowl teams from this past season, might have transformed their franchises into title contenders in two seasons, both organizations had much more to work with than what Sullivan and Hafley inherited.

That means digging the Dolphins out of this talent deficit won’t happen overnight, and will possibly feature a few setbacks before we start to see this franchise set foot in the black.

There’s no shame in belt tightening, which is long overdue in Miami.

Let’s just hope it’s accompanied by excellent talent evaluation and roster development, otherwise we will find the franchise right back here — broke and talent starved, in this spot four or so years from now.

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