The Miami Dolphins presently have $145 million tied up on the team's top 51 players (the top 51 is the only salaries that count for the salary cap), and with the 2015 salary cap projected to be between $140-142 million.
That didn't include signing any draft picks or their own free agents like Charles Clay, Jared Odrick, Jimmy Wilson, and Matt Moore.
Bottome line: Miami is going to have to cut some players to get under the cap, which they very much can do.
There's a difficult decision to make Mike Wallace or Brian Hartline one of the two pre-June 1 cuts, and with Wallace's unhappiness with the team, it appears that he's on his way out, creating $10.3 million in cap space.
Dannell Ellerbe's impending release also guarantees he's one of those pre-June 1 cuts because that creates $8.45 million from the books. Backup Jelani Jenkins has proven he's a clear-cut starter, making Ellerbe expendable.
Those are the two biggest names, but there are several others - including Brian Hartline - that can be cut to create maximum cap space. That said, Wallace and Ellerbe are almost certainly on their way out, giving Miami some cap relief.
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