The Dolphins’ Venmo account is going to be on lockdown.
As of Tuesday, Miami’s dead money for the 2026 season is over a staggering $175 million.
It all began last week when the Dolphins released Tua Tagovailoa, who was eventually picked up by the Falcons during free agency. It led to the team eating $99 million in dead money over the next two seasons — over $56 million of that will come when he is officially cut on June 1.
In the days that followed, the team added even more to its total, culminating in Tuesday’s trade of Jaylen Waddle to the Broncos for a 2026 first-round, third-round and fourth-round picks, a move that adds over $26 million to their dead money next season.
Tagovailoa’s hit is particularly notable as it surpassed Russell Wilson’s divorce from the Broncos as the highest ever, costing then $85 million spread over the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
Other contributors to the big hit to the Dolphins’ wallet were Tyreek Hill, who was released in February and is costing the team $28.2 million, Jalen Ramsey ($20.9 million), Minkah Fitzpatrick ($13 million), Bradley Chubb ($10.9 million), Terron Armstead $10.7 million), James Daniels ($4.8 million) and Zach Wilson ($3.8 million) are also included.
If there is any positive to take from this for the Dolphins, Denver made the playoffs in 2024 for the first time since 2015.
Additionally, out of the five teams with the biggest dead money trouble in 2023, four made the playoffs, per The Athletic.
The Dolphins are now one of five teams with two picks in the first round of this year’s draft (Nos. 11 and 30). They join the Jets (Nos. 2, 16), Browns (6, 24), Chiefs (9, 29) and Cowboys (12, 20).
In total, Miami has 11 selections in next month’s draft.
