Dolphins Open To Restructuring Ndamukong Suh’s Contract For Cap Relief

Dolphins vice president Mike Tannenbaum told reporters at the Senior Bowl on Tuesday that they’ll consider the possibility of restructuring DT Ndamukong Suh‘s contract this offseason.

“By the time we get to the first day of the league year, we should have plenty of room to address the needs that we have,” Tannenbaum said, via ESPN.com. “Certainly we will be looking at Suh’s contract.”

As of now, the Dolphins are projected to be over the cap in 2016 by $2,685,569, according to OverTheCap.com.

Suh carries a staggering cap figure of $28.6 million for the 2016 season and represents the easiest source of cap space for Miami.

Should the Dolphins elect to go this route with Suh’s contract, Joel Corry mentions that they could free up maximum of $18.18 million of salary cap room in 2016.

According to Jason Fitzgerald, a maximum restructure of Suh’s contract would produce cap hits: $10.4 million. 2017’s cap hit: $19.6 million. 2018’s cap hit: $26.6 million. 2019’s cap hit: $28.6 million. 2020’s cap hit: $22.9 million.

Fitzpatrick adds that this restructure would increase his dead money from the $10.2 million to $23.8 million in 2018. In addition, the dead money for 2019 would jump to $14.2 million from $5.1 million.

Suh, 29, just finished the first year of his six-year, $114 million contract that includes $60 million guaranteed. He’ll make a base salaries of $23.485 million (2016), $9.985 million (2017), $16.985 million (2018), $18.985 million (2019), and $18.36 million (2020).

In 2015, Suh appeared in all 16 games for the Dolphins and recorded 58 tackles, six sacks, and five pass defenses. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 3 defensive tackle out of 70 qualifying players.