While the season could play out differently, at the moment, the Miami Dolphins might be looking at the worst salary cap sheet in NFL history.
The Dolphins are set to pay about $183 million for players not on their roster for the 2026 season.
That compares to just about $104 million for players currently rostered, according to contracts website Spotrac — with the tweet below also noting that no team has ever had this few combined starts entering a season before:
Dolphins case for worst roster in NFL history:
Only team in recorded history (Spotrac tracks since 2011) to pay more for players NOT on roster ($183M) than players ON active roster ($104M)
Least experienced team to open a season (608 career starts) in recorded history
— Doug Clawson (@doug_clawson) September 9, 2026
Everything about that is quite painful, although given the contracts that the Dolphins previously had on their books, maybe it’s the exact route they had to take to dig out of a hole and eventually rebuild into a better place.
The financial situation just makes it tough for the Dolphins to make too much noise this season — but hey, the NFL is full of unexpected occurrences every season. The players on Miami’s roster will be trying to shock the world.
Miami Dolphins’ Dead Cap Salary
The Dolphins have a ton of immense cap hits for players who were either released, traded or even retired (Terron Armstead).
Spotrac lists 54 players as contributing to Miami’s dead cap this year. These are some of the notables:
- Tua Tagovailoa – $55.4 million
- Tyreek Hill – $28.2 million
- Jaylen Waddle – $23.2 million
- Jalen Ramsey – $20.9 million
- Minkah Fitzpatrick – $13.0 million
- Bradley Chubb – $11.0 million
- Terron Armstead – $10.7 million
- James Daniels – $4.8 million
- Zach Wilson – $3.8 million
- Alec Ingold – $2.0 million
- Tyrel Dodson – $1.9 million
- Jonnu Smith – $1.7 million
- Nick Westbrook-Ikhine – $1.6 million
- Matt Judon – $1.4 million
The list goes on into a lot smaller dollar figures, but those are the big ones.
You could put together quite the football team with some of the above players in their primes, but they weren’t all in their primes together in recent years for the Dolphins.
Hill remains a free agent, but as you know, Tagovailoa is now with the Atlanta Falcons. Waddle is with the Denver Broncos. Chubb is now on the division rival Buffalo Bills.
The Dolphins’ roster feels quite new, for better or worse.
Dolphins’ Top Salaries
The Dolphins’ biggest on-roster cap hit for the 2026 season is just $11.4 million for defensive lineman Zach Sieler.
Malik Willis had his contract backloaded. He’s got a cap hit this season of just $5.7 million.
Sieler is the only Dolphins player with an eight-figure cap hit for the season ahead, which is astounding in the modern NFL.
But that’s what happens when so much of your money is allocated to players who no longer wear your uniform.
Dolphins Paying $183 Million to Players not on Roster