The Dolphins signed defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh in 2015 to a contract that includes a massive cap number for 2016. The $28.6 million charge arises largely from a base salary of $23.485 million, which gives the Dolphins an easy avenue for slashing the cap number -- and a clear incentive to do so.
By taking, for example, $22.485 million and turning it into a signing bonus, that amount can be spread over the final five seasons of the deal, with cap charges of $4.497 million per year and cap savings of $17.988 million in 2016.
Most players willingly do it because they get the vast majority of an otherwise non-guaranteed salary in hand, up front, right now. But Suh’s salary for 2016 already is fully guaranteed. So why should he do it?
Doing so, as noted on Wednesday’s PFT Live by Armando Salguero, would help the team free up cap space for signing other players. But what’s in it for Suh? Owners didn’t end up accumulating billions by giving gratuities; capitalism means capitalizing -- and Suh now has the leverage to do it himself.
So why shouldn’t he ask for something in return for helping the Dolphins out of a jam? They could have added language last year giving them the absolute right to convert salary to signing bonus in 2016. They apparently didn’t.
Now they want to. And if Suh chooses to capitalize on that situation, he has every right to do it.
UPDATE 9:24 p.m. ET: Alas, the debate is moot. As explained by Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald, the Dolphins indeed added the language in 2015 that I wrote they should have added.
