Talking Numbers

Yesterday we learned that the approximate available salary cap number for the Dolphins entering the draft was at or about $13.19 Million dollars. Armando Salguero from the Miami Herald deems that this will be enough to not only sign all our picks, but 3-4 undrafted free agents, and a veteran through free agency.

I decided to take a closer look at last years numbers to have a closer estimate to how Miami's cap will look after the draft adding an additional 5% of the contract amount to this years draftees.

25th pick in the 2008 NFL Draft, the Dallas Cowboys selected CB Mike Jenkins from South Florida. On the 26th of July, 2008, Mike Jenkins inked a 5 year, $9.725 Million dollar contract with Dallas.

This is how the contract looks:
$6.75 Million guaranteed, including a $3.1 Million signing bonus.
2008: $231,000 guaranteed
2009: $657,500
2010: $789,000
2011: $920,500
2012: $1.052 million

Expected Contract for Miami's 25th pick: 5 year, $10.24 Million Dollars, $7.10 Million guaranteed, signing bonus of $3.25 Million Dollars, 2009 Cap Hit of $242,550.

44th pick in the 2008 NFL Draft, the Chicago Bears selected Matt Forte, Tulane. On the 2nd of July, they signed him to a 4 year, $3.781 Million Dollar contract.

This is how the contract looks:
$2 Million guaranteed, including $1,533,333 signing bonus.
2008: $156,667
2009: $385,000
2010: $470,000
2011: $555,000

Expected contract for Miami's 44th pick: 4 year, $3.97 Million, $2.1 Million Guaranteed, $1.61 Million Signing Bonus, and a 2009 Cap Hit of $165,000.

56th Pick in the 2008 NFL Draft, Green Bay selected QB Brian Brohm, Louisville. On the 27th of July, GB signed him to a 4 year, $2.605 Million deal.

Brohms contract becomes alot more complicated but the main part is that he got a signing bonus of $900,000 and a base salary for 2008 of $295,000.

That said, Miami's 56th Pick's contract should look something like 4 year, $2.74 Million, $950,000 signing bonus, and 2009 cap hit of: $310,000.

Alot of numbers, I know.

It's not worth calculating the lower picks, as much of the contract is based on whether they seem to make the 53 man roster or practice squad, or get cut.

Basically, though, the Dolphins should be able to sign all their picks and still have ample cap space. I would throw a rough estimate of about $7 Million left available in cap space. This will give them the luxury of picking up someone like Taylor after the draft to come in and solidify the defense for the next couple years while our younger guys develop.