Three years after the Dolphins made a big splash for defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, one of the best interior defensive lineman in football is indeed expected to hit the open market, soon.
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, expect Suh to be released by the Dolphins after 4:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
This would allow the Dolphins to take advantage of the post-June 1 rule, which allows the dead money arising from the move to be spread over two years. Until June 1, his $17 million in salary and workout bonuses would remain on the books, and his cap number would continue to be $26.1 million. After June 1, the $17 million would evaporated, the cap charge for 2018 would drop to $9.1 million, and Suh would count for $13.2 million against the 2019 cap.
A report emerged during the season that Suh would be cut after the season because owner Stephen Ross had become fed up with Suh. That wasn’t the case then, and it isn’t the case now. This is, per the source, a financial transaction, premised on biting the bullet and removing an expensive cap number from the books.
That said, the Dolphins likely would have tried to find a way to keep Suh, if coach Adam Gase regarded Suh as one of the players around whom Gase hopes to build the team. After two years, Gase apparently has seen enough to conclude that Suh’s skills, abilities, and intangibles don’t justify the ongoing investment.
There’s still a chance that someone will trade for Suh, but that would result in an immediate cap charge of $22.3 million. The net savings would still be $3.9 million in cap space ($17 million in cash), and Suh could be off the books after 2018. Plus, the Dolphins may get something of value in return for him.
Cutting Suh means they’ll get nothing -- other than the ability to push $13.1 million in dead money to 2019.