The Dolphins will have 20 players unsigned after this season, but can't offer extensions because the team is within $730,000 of its 2006 salary capacity. BY ARMANDO SALGUERO asalguero@MiamiHerald.com When Vonnie Holliday signed a two-year contract with the Dolphins in 2005, he hoped to play well enough to get a contract extension and retire here. ''I like it here,'' Holliday said. ``In coming here, I thought I would play well and that they would have extended my contract by now and that I would retire as a Dolphin. I still feel that way.'' But those feelings soon might change because Holliday's two-year contract ends Jan 1. He has played so well that he is second among NFL defensive tackles with 6 ? sacks this season, but he hasn't gotten a contract extension. And the likelihood he'll retire a Dolphin is uncertain. Fact is, none of the 20 Dolphins who are unsigned after this season have gotten contract extensions and none are likely to. It's not that coach Nick Saban doesn't like his future unsigned players. The problem is, Miami's salary cap is stretched to near capacity, with the team within $730,000 of the $102 million limit. And even though the cap will be $109 million next season and the NFL announced Wednesday it will be a whopping $116 million in 2008, the current cap is what keeps Miami from doing extensions. BUSINESS REASONS ''We've had conversations with some people, I'm not going to be specific with who,'' Saban said Wednesday. ``But there are also business reasons that allow you to do [extensions] or not . . . If you're up to it right now, it's hard to give a guy up-front money. It's about where your cap is now, not where it's going to be next year, that allows you to do something early.'' To complicate the problem, the Dolphins believe they have to hold back what little reserve they have left in case an injury or injuries force them to sign another player either off their practice squad or off the street. Those signings draw from this year's remaining cap space. ''If we don't have that [reserve], we can't sign guys,'' Saban said. Although Saban said the Dolphins have had some conversations about extensions with some players, starters Holliday, David Bowens and Damion McIntosh said they have not been approached. But they all would welcome the opportunity to sign an extension, even if it means bypassing what is likely to be a rich free agency period for players. ''I'd love that, big-time,'' Bowens said. ``I mean right now, right away. If Coach called me into his office and said they want to do something, I'm for it. I'd get my agent on the phone and we'd talk. If the numbers are right, I wouldn't go to free agency. ``But I don't know what they're saying upstairs. I don't know if I'm expendable. Maybe I'm on my way out. I don't want it to be that way at all, but again this is a business. We haven't been talking, so the only other option is to go to free agency.'' The Dolphins will have more cap room at the start of free agency March 2 than at any other time in their history since the cap was instituted. The current projection is $17.4 million for next year, with the Dolphins already having an adjusted team salary of $91.6 million. The problem is, the Dolphins will be in a market in which 16 teams will be more than $20 million under the cap, with at least seven of those -- Arizona, San Francisco, Tennessee, Minnesota, Buffalo, St. Louis and Green Bay -- $30 million or more under the $109 million cap. BULL MARKET That promises a bull market for players who expect their paydays to rise substantially, as teams with plenty of cap space bid for their services. And that is why so many teams the past month have been offering their future free agents extensions so as to not allow them to hit the open market. Not the case in Miami, where nine current starters will become unrestricted or restricted free agents. ''No one has approached me here,'' said McIntosh, Miami's starting left tackle. ``So my mind-set is to go to free agency. It's not like they've come to me, and I'm holding them off. That's the hand they gave me, so I have to be prepared for it.''
Miami never bit the bullet and went into an all-out rebuilding mode since Marino retired. They might want to think about that. Or they can keep patching holes with overrated veterans for all I care.
The Dolphins are going to be 17-24 mil under the cap next year after cuts and restructures. This is the year the Dolphins will finally overhaul the roster to make things happen. They were in bad shape two years ago cap wise and now are in better shape.
That is pretty crazy they are so close within the cap. I know the Jets only had about 8-10 million once the cap increased, but Miami isn't really a contender and they have no cap space. if they keep threading the needle, they are going to end up in cap hell. Extending guys midseason like we did with Thomas, is exactly how you stay ahead and below the salary cap.
