What does 2022 cap news mean for Dolphins’ young talent?

The final figure for the 2022 salary cap is yet to be determined, but at the very least we should expect to see a rebound after the salary cap reduction of 2021. Seeing the cap dip by approximately $15M this offseason was a major unforeseen wrinkle for most NFL franchises — who promptly needed to pivot with any number of adjusted strategies to fill out their rosters. For some, it meant cutting talent. For others? Contract restructures. For the Dolphins? It meant bridging the gap with one-year contracts at several key positions and relying on their young talent developing at others.

Granted, Miami still found some room for notable signings like WR Will Fuller and backup QB Jacoby Brissett. But both are in Miami on one-year contracts — and the team will need to be keeping a watchful eye on both talents and their long-term viability with the team. Some of that, of course, will be rooted in the price being right.

But the 2022 salary cap ceiling as been set this week after the NFLPA and NFL owners agreed upon a figure of $208.2M for the cap ceiling. That’s great news, given that it’s some $23M higher than the current cap — although expecting the league to hit that ceiling may be ambitious. In reality, it will probably fall somewhat short of that number.

But such a lofty ceiling indicates an expectation that, via television deals and the return of full capacity stadiums, the league will have plenty of financial spending power incoming for teams and a major leap in the cap is still expected.

What does that mean for the Dolphins? If the cap checked in at $208.2M, the Dolphins would currently be scheduled to own over $66.5M in cap space, with plenty of additional room available to be created. And that’s great news for talents like Fuller and Brissett, 2020 free agent addition Emmanuel Ogbah and talents drafted by the team like Mike Gesicki and Jerome Baker.

If the cap were stagnant, the Dolphins would likely be facing a very difficult decision about signing ‘X’ number of talents and letting ‘Y’ number of talents walk in free agency — as each of the big four starters from that group (Fuller, Ogbah, Gesicki and Baker) are likely to command annual average salaries on their next contracts that exceed $10M per season. For Gesicki and Baker, that may feel lofty. But Baker is a three-down linebacker who enjoyed the most productive season of his career in 2020 with more complementary talent around him on defense and Gesicki is a rising talent who plays an x-factor position that we’ve seen a major increase in spending on over the last year thanks to market resets from Austin Hooper, Travis Kelce and George Kittle (plus two $12.5M contracts given out by New England this year in free agency).

Fuller already commands $10M+ this season and a long-term extension would mean things went well in 2021 — and Miami won’t get him for cheap if that is the case. And Ogbah, who averages $7.5M per season, was the team’s best pass rusher in 2020 and would warrant a raise if he’s back.

But again, there’s good news for the Dolphins in the news of the cap ceiling. There’s about to be an influx in spending power, which means Miami could retain all four of these young talents to be cornerstone pieces to the team and then simultaneously, courtesy of salary cap manipulation via signing bonuses and otherwise, have plenty of room in 2022 to add any key pieces the team deems necessary to add into the fray, too.