The Miami Dolphins got a bit of good news yesterday — one of their most efficient players of the 2020 season is going to be sticking around for a while. The Dolphins and Jason Sanders not only had an agreement of terms on a new 5-year contract, but Sanders made things official and sealed the deal yesterday. Him signing his contract marks the first extension of the offseason for the Dolphins, who will have some difficult, unenviable decisions to make with new contracts versus adding new talent.
But one thing the Sanders deal will not do is prevent Miami from making any of those decisions. Because according to Barry Jackson and Adam Beasley of the Miami Herald, the cap impact of Sanders’ deal is negligible at best — full steam ahead for the Dolphins to conduct their business elsewhere.
Sanders’ new contract is for a total of five seasons and worth a total of $22 million with $10 million guaranteed. According to the report from the Herald, that $10M guaranteed is initially comprised of a blend of a traditional signing bonus and also roster bonuses along the way; meaning Sanders’ 2021 cap charge went up approximately $700k.
“Sanders was in the final year of his rookie deal and set to earn $920,000 in 2021. That base salary will remain the same and he will receive $3.9 million in combined signing and roster bonuses in his new deal. With the extension, his 2021 cap figure will rise from just under $1 million to around $1.6 million.” – Adam Beasley & Barry Jackson, Miami Herald
When you look at this extension through this lens, it really does feel like a no-brainer and a great job by both sides of the fence to find terms that suited giving Sanders top-5 kicker money but simultaneously leaving the Dolphins as much flexibility as possible to continue building up their roster in the coming weeks and months.
