The Boogeyman Is On The Ropes.

[00:00:00]I come bearing good news for Dolphins fans. On the heels of the Jordan Brooks extension, the boogeyman is on the ropes.

[00:00:14]You are Locked on Dolphins, your daily Miami Dolphins podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day.

[00:00:25]>> All right, Miami. Welcome to another episode of Locked On Dolphins. It is your team every day here on the lockdown network. I'm your host Krabs, lifelong Miami Dolphins fan, host of Locked on Dolphins, co-host of Locked on Dolphins, Scotting author of Touchdown Miami on Substack, NFL staff writer for a toz sports. Today's episode of Locked on Dolphins is brought to you by FanDuel.

[00:00:41]Join all the action at FanDuel.com to play daily dingers and make your free pick on who's hitting a homer this MLB season. Today's episode of the show, kind of the aftermath of the Brooks extension. Uh, and the big thing to take away, um, actually is more of a big picture financial discussion as you would expect for the Dolphins and offloading all the big contracts that they've done this off season. Uh but one of the the boogeymen of the last few years um things not looking too good for old void years and uh this was something that has been a hot button topic for the last couple years of of the Dolphins and their builds as a team. But the shift is stunning to see how it is quickly deleveraged between moving on from some contracts, between extending some players that were expiring contracts that had void years on the back end of their deals. I remember how big of a deal it was that they did a salary conversion with Devon Achan and then gave, you know, created cap space but did so at the expense of putting four voyers on the back end of his deal when in reality they then signed him to a four-year contract extension. All four of those voyers go away, right? When you sign a player, the the the deferred money that is qualified as void money gets absorbed into the cap hits for those years that that player is now on the roster.

[00:02:11]So, I know it's I'm I'm not going to get into the mechanics of void years and how they work and how they accelerate and how you could post June 1st a player if they're on a void. all kinds of technical stuff, mumbo jumbo, that I know you don't want to hear because it's July 22nd.

[00:02:26]But I do want to set the stage for how quickly this has shifted.

[00:02:32]And this is why when we talk on the show or on Touchdown Miami or on a Toz Sports or in my YouTube shorts, wherever, when I talk about exit ramps in contracts and cycling in big contracts and cycling out big contracts, this is why it matters because you can cohesively, and again, this goes back to the central theme of yesterday with the Jordan Brooks emergency podcast and the cash spending that the Dolphins have signed themselves up for. There's a congruency here with logic and what needs to be done based on the financial picture of the team and what the Dolphins have done this off season. I want to wind the clocks back for you precisely two years ago, 48 months ago.

[00:03:15]And so this is 2024, summer of 2024.

[00:03:19]And I want to go through the contracts that the Dolphins had that had void years on the back end of their deals.

[00:03:28]And this gets worse before it gets better. But this is Durham Smith and Johnny Smith at tight end. That's two.

[00:03:33]Tron Armstead, Austin Jackson, Aram Brewer on the offensive line. That's five. Zack Cer, that's six. Bradley Chub, seven. Jordan Brooks, eight. Shaq Barrett, remember that cup of coffee?

[00:03:48]That's nine. Jaylen Ramsay. Kendall Fuller, that's 11. Jason Sanders, that's 12. The Dolphins had 12 contracts that had at least one void year as a dummy placeholder for deferred debt on their books.

[00:04:06]Fast forward 12 months to just 12 months ago. Well, technically 13 months ago, because this is June, was the the most recent um internet archive that I could get my hands on.

[00:04:17]Zach Wilson's contract has void years.

[00:04:20]To a tongue of Aloa's contract has void years. Tyreek Hill's contract has void years. Nick Westbrook Ain's contract has void years.

[00:04:32]Jaylen Wadd's contract has void years.

[00:04:35]John Smith, as of 13 months ago, is still on the team. He has void years on his deal. The Toron Armstead post uh retirement had not been processed yet.

[00:04:44]You don't want to count that one. That's fine. But it's technically number seven.

[00:04:49]So, let's not count it because he'd retired. Okay. Aaron Brewer's contract has void year. Austin Jackson's contract has void years. James Daniels's contract has void years. Zack Caler's contract has void years. Jordan Brook's contract has void years. We're we're in double digits. We're linebackers. Jaylen Ramsey is still technically on the team. That's 12.

[00:05:10]Uh Jason Sanders at this point also has void years on his contract. So that's 13. You're talking a baker's dozen of contracts that has void years.

[00:05:21]And from a financial standpoint, oh, in June of 2025, the Dolphins had $91 million in deferred debt from void years. years in which a player is not under contract to play for your team, but has a salary cap allocation because you spent cash over cap for a bunch of seasons in 20 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025. And the way that you make all that fit under the salary cap is you just defer the debt, right?

[00:05:58]That number 91 million, uh, that ranked sixth highest in the NFL 13 months ago.

[00:06:06]I want you to fast forward to April 1st of this year. The Dolphins have moved on from Tyreek Hill. They've moved on from Bradley Chub. They've moved on from Tua Tonga Aloa. They have traded Jaylen Wadd. They've moved on from James Daniels and Nick Westbrook Ain. They've offloaded a number of these. The number is dipped.

[00:06:26]They've cut it in half from over 90 million to 45. They rank 16th in the league.

[00:06:33]And since that date on April 1st, they extend Devon Achan who they did the re the salary conversion with and put Voyears on the back end of it which was as good of a tell as you could get that they were going to do a contract extension. So they put Void Years on that contract, but then when they extended Devon Achen it effectively just works like a portion of what his signing bonus is and all four of those void years are absorbed into his contract.

[00:06:57]His contract has no void years now. So that deferred voidyear debt goes away.

[00:07:03]Aon Brewer's contract has void years on it. Um they absorbed that into his new contract as well. Now he technically has one void year for $2.25 million in 2030.

[00:07:22]So he still technically is one of the contracts that does have void years left.

[00:07:27]But that's more out of necessity of what the salary cap situation was when they do the contract extension.

[00:07:34]And remember Jordan Brooks, he did not they did not manipulate his contract. He had void years. He had three void years because they restructured his salary last year.

[00:07:45]They put three new years on the back end of that contract. All of those void years are absorbed into his new contract. And because they didn't need the salary cap savings, I would not be surprised if they don't put any that that dummy extra year on the back end of the deal.

[00:08:00]They go from 45 million on April 1st from 94 91 million in June of 2025 in void deferred debt to 45 million to today the number is $28 million and just about half of it belongs to Austin Jackson who they couldn't move on from because they need an offensive tackle in year one of the ter of this the strip down of all the for the contracts and because their their limitations for all of the other contracts that they move on from survived. Oh, by the way, when they traded for Minka Fitzpatrick, they put more woods on the back end of that contract, too. So, even as they offload John Smith and Jaylen Ramsey, they put Minka money in there, too. Um, but Minka was one of the guys that they moved on from along with all those other names that we mentioned. And that leaves Austin Jackson as a name who survives.

[00:09:00]He is solely responsible for about 50% of all of the void money that is left on the Dolphins long-term books. I don't say this to poo poo void years, but I say this to make the point that when we have talked about void years, when we have talked about them being a tool that you can manipulate and use, now we went too far considering what the foundation of the house was built on. There there's no debating that. And some of the contracts that they gave that they deferred death with by choosing to give the bigger problem was giving the contracts, not the tool. Because as this illustrates, when you move on from players, and then when you extend the right players, poof, they're gone. and all of the hoing and the humming and the humming and the a shucksing and the ringing of the hands about void money.

[00:09:56]The Dolphins have tail spun from sixth in the league last June in deferred void debt to 16th on April 1st and today they sit 22nd in the league in void money with under $30 million.

[00:10:18]One final thought on that on the other side of the break. Make sure you guys stick with us.

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[00:12:39]The final thought here is the players that do have void years on their contracts.

[00:12:48]Zack Cer, a grandfathered in contract extension that was done last year, has less than $3 million in void debt for 2030, which he probably will not see.

[00:12:59]Uh Jordan Brooks maybe has one. I would guess doesn't based on their cap situation and their cap standing before getting this extension done and the fact that they didn't manipulate his contract. It makes him easier for them to tuck it into four years instead of adding the dummy fifth year on the back end of it.

[00:13:17]Austin Jackson with the third 12.89 million.

[00:13:22]Um Aaron Brewer who we mentioned gets his his deal was done when things were a little bit tighter. They put one year on the back end of it. But they also did the salary conversion with Aon Brewer out of necessity when they were trading Jaylen Waddle and they were kind of moving money around within their own household players that they were intending on on locking in. Right.

[00:13:49]So I don't know if Brooks was more of there's more of a trade market there. I don't know if Brooks was more of we want to have like a slush fund if something happens that we want to make money available so let's leave it until we get something done. I don't know for what reason but Brewer and Achan were both salary converted out of necessity as they're offloading in the contracts. The only two other players on the team are Malik Willis and Greg Dulich.

[00:14:15]I mean, Greg Dulich has less than $1.5 million in void money and Malik Willis has less than $9 million in void money in 2029.

[00:14:23]Both of those were players that they chose to covet and prioritize and out of necessity when free agency is starting.

[00:14:30]They they had to do it.

[00:14:33]They had to do it.

[00:14:35]So you went from 12 and 13 names with void years on the back end of these deals to Caler Jackson.

[00:14:46]Both of those godfather in Brewer restructure out of necessity when they trade Jaylen Wadd Malik Willis Greg Doulich. That's it.

[00:14:58]The problem is and was and never was the tool. The problem is and was choosing to give the wrong contracts to the wrong players.

[00:15:09]There is no bad tool used correctly.

[00:15:14]And that's what we saw and that's what we've seen them deconstructing uh which now has the boogeyman of void years on the ropes.

[00:15:26]wanted to touch on an observation that was made from one of my colleagues in the Lock on Network and Marcus Mosher who does a lot of good work. Uh Marcus is I I didn't agree with his take here.

[00:15:38]He's hosted Locked on Cowboys, Locked On Dynasty, writes Over Fanited. He's been in the industry a long time. Um, but on the heels of the Hamm Brewer and now Jordan Brooks extension, Marcus Mosher said, quote, "All these guys are awesome players, but it is strange that a team in year one of a rebuild paid huge money to a running back, linebacker, and center.

[00:16:04]I would argue that as edge rushers are getting $50 million and wide receivers are getting $45 million a season, never mind what the quarterbacks are getting these days.

[00:16:18]Getting Achan lower than a rate that could have been projected. getting Jordan Brooks lower at a rate that many projected and getting Aram Brewer at a rate that is uh competitive with Cam Jurgens as compared to Tyler Linderbomb getting 27 million or going above Creed Humphrey at 18. Um I would argue first that it's not huge money for those positions. And when we reacted in real time to the Brooks contract yesterday, we talked about the guarantees there adding up to the equivalent of what TJ Watt got last year as an edge rusher or uh some of the other marquee players across the league at a premium position.

[00:17:01]And that was the critique that effectively Marcus had was, you know, that you're paying nonpremium players premium money.

[00:17:09]But the alternative is the New York Jets, right? where the Jets they they move on from all of their players other than Garrett Wilson and their free agency process is signing and trading for Gino Smith but David Animea uh they go get Deario Davis at a later stage of his career they're des they they stripped it down so much that they were so desperate for some leadership and they had to spend cash that they brought in a bunch of shorter term gap players. I would rather have players that are not shorter term gap players that you already know work within your ecosystem while sending a positive message to the players within your building that if you perform here, we're going to take care of you. And after the Jordan Brooks contract hits the books for 2027, the Dolphins are still going to be dead last in the NFL and cash spending in 2027.

[00:17:58]Before the Brooks extension, they had $116.75 million in cash commitments across 52 players.

[00:18:08]That is the polar opposite of what they've been where they've been at the top of the cash spending with 30some players the following year. That's been their norm the last few seasons. So they've completely turned this on its head. What is an extra third round pick for Jordan Brooks to go from having $200 million to spend to having $220 million to spend while also not having a qualified player or having yet another question mark on the death chart.

[00:18:43]So, this goes to a really interesting kind of team building philosophy style approach and it gets tied into what John Eric Sullivan's talked about when paying wide receivers versus paying running backs. He talked about, you know, the guy who's going to touch the ball up to 2x more per game, I can get for half the cost of a wide receiver. And while it is true that wide receivers traditionally tilt the field more, um, you can pay top dollar for non-premium positions and then if you draft the premium positions well and get them under control for their rookie contracts and potentially extended runways and pick and choose your spots on who to extend out of that group, the entirety of the nucleus of your roster can be quite strong as compared to if you choose to pay and prioritize and spend been big on the premium positions like quarterback and offensive tackle and edge rusher and wide receiver. It's a very traditional way to approach team building, right? And it's traditional because those are the the positions that that really move the needle. But what do you do at those other spots? The the the the give and take is, well, I can get a tight end and a defensive tackle cheaper in the draft than I can typically get a top corner or top wide receiver. top corner, top wide receiver is going to go in the first round. But I think there's clues there.

[00:20:07]And that's where Green Bay with John Eric Sullivan has traditionally drafted a ton.

[00:20:14]It's been quarterback, defensive line, corner, offensive line.

[00:20:23]That's where they draft a ton in the first round. So, I would suspect, you know, they'll be selective on who they pay long-term at these premium spots because they're going to continue to churn and turn over and try to target those areas with cost control players, which opens the door for you to spend big money on a linebacker or a center or a running back.

[00:20:52]But I wouldn't be concerned at all about paying the wrong pay paying too much for non-neallemoving players at this point considering, you know, Will Anderson's getting $50 million a year to rush the passer. And we're we're talking 35% of that for these for these guys.

[00:21:10]And the Dolphins have what's probably going to equate to less than $140 million in cash commitments across what will be 53 players once the Jordan Brooks contract formally locks in. To put that number in perspective, Arizona's 31st in the league at 142.

[00:21:28]Atlanta's 30th at 170. The Giants are 29th at 185. The 24th ranked team is over 200 million. And the Dolphins are at 116 plus whatever they're giving Brooks next year. So 24th is almost 2x what the Dolphins have. The 20th place team does have 2x what the Dolphins have right now. The Raiders $230 million. They ranked 20th in cash spending for 2027. They got 2x what the Dolphins are spending on their current group for 20207. And the Dolphins have 53 players under contract.

[00:22:01]not really worried about whether they're locking themselves in inappropriately for non premium players.

[00:22:08]I'm not. Uh, one final bookkeeping note to bring us home today has to do with Chris Bell who was placed on an injury designation list yesterday. We'll talk about that on the other side of the break. Real quick, message from Matt Derry here on Lockdown Network.

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[00:23:22]So, one thing we have long suspected about uh Chris Bell, wide receiver for the Dolphins, is that he was going to have an extended recovery window after suffering an ACL injury at Louisville at the end of his final season there with the Cardinals. The Dolphins, with rookies reporting to camp yesterday, made this official. They placed him on the active non-foot injury list. So, what does that mean? means he can't practice until he is cleared uh for uh whatever medical recovery window he has to work his way through. He still counts on the 90man roster or the 91 man roster that the Dolphins have right now.

[00:24:06]And he can be around the team, but he's just prohibited from participating in practice. He can do onfield work on the side and he can be activated at any point. That's the important thing here.

[00:24:21]You know, not all pup list, non- football injury list designations are created equally. We we talked about that earlier this week. But for Chris Bell, he's on the non-OOT injury list because his injury related or happened in activities that was not related to his NFL franchise.

[00:24:38]So that is the technicality for why Chris Bell gets tucked on non-foot injury. If they carry him through all the way throughout training camp and they get the cut downs and he's still on the list and he goes on the reserve non-OOT injury list, he would no longer count towards the active roster. Uh and he would at that stage then have to miss at least the first four games of the season.

[00:25:02]Other than that, status quo. We're chilling. Um, I'm looking forward to getting more details from the Jordan Brooks contract. I'd expect the Dolphins will have something in the not too distant future. Although, they may wait until he reports to camp to get him to sign uh formally sign to do the thing with Hard Rock Stadium in the background and he's sitting at the desk and he's got the pen and he's looking up and smiling at the camera. We might not get that today, but um we might and we we probably will not get the details of the contract until he does sign. So, we might be waiting a little bit, but a week from today, the Dolphins will be taking their first practice of the 2026 training camp. We're just about there. Uh, we have our squad show later today. So, come on back and see us there. Uh, and then I have a mailbag episode that I'm planning on doing. I've been planning for doing for three days and things have just kind of stacked and compounded. So, it's on the to-do list. I'm doing a written mailbag for a sports and I'm taking another portion of those questions and we'll do a power to the pot out of it. So, uh, that's what's on the horizon for us here as we finish our final week without Dolphins practices.

[00:26:12]Uh, so hang in there. Keep it locked in here on Locked on Dolphins. It is your team every day. Appreciate you all as always for checking out the show. Make it a great rest of your Wednesday and I'll talk to you all again soon. Fins up.