Start waving goodbye. Anyone can go. The new season began Monday for the Miami Dolphins’ new regime with the release of Tyreek Hill and Bradley Chubb, two names bigger than the decision to let them go.
Hill gave two great years in his four with the Dolphins, but was on the chopping block with a bloated 2026 price even before his nasty knee injury. He’ll be 32 in March, and his release saves the Dolphins $22.8 million.
Chubb is a pro’s pro and good edge rusher, but he turns 30 this summer, is regularly injured and was due $20.2 million this year. Those aren’t fits for a rebuilding team.
Throw in guard James Daniels, who declined to play with a pectoral injury even as the team thought he could, and receiver Nick Westbrook-Ikhine and the Dolphins actually moved into the positive for salary-cap space. For now.
Now it gets tougher. Defining decisions loom for new general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan, ones that will set the course of this season and offer a look into his building philosophy.
And, no, this doesn’t have anything to do with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. The only decision there remains how to painfully extricate themselves from his contract. The hammer or the drill?
This is about moving on. It’s about how Sullivan will set policy and do business with the players he wants to keep. Or might want to keep. Or would keep at the right price, if that can be found.
You know how the Dolphins did business the past four years. If a player came to a bad mood to practice, he was given a new contract. Tua, Hill and Jalen Ramsey signed record-setting deals when new deals weren’t even necessary. Team owner Steve Ross is still signing checks from that.
It’s easy to toss money at players. But someone has to protect the organization with fair deals, and that’s Sullivan’s job now. Start with running back De’Von Achane, this offense’s best playmaker, who enters the final year of his rookie contract in 2026.
Garden-variety running backs don’t get paid anymore. But two-way threats like Achane do. Look at San Francisco’s Christian McCaffrey ($19 million in 2026).
Achane doesn’t have McCaffrey’s receiving numbers. But his total yards compare to Buffalo running back James Cook, who signed four-year, $46 million deal ($29 million guaranteed) before last season.
Is that a year-ago framework for Achane? It would have been a year ago when every Dolphin got paid. Sullivan has yet to show how he work. He could have Achane play out his rookie deal. Or maybe start the season before negotiating? Would the franchise tag be in play?
Sullivan’s philosophy will weave through this rebuild. When Tua moves on, the Dolphins highest-paid players next year become safety Minkah Fitzpatrick ($18.9M) and right tackle Austin Jackson ($15.4M). That doesn’t look right, does it?
Each is average. Jackson has injury problems. Does Sullivan try to trade them, opening more holes on a roster full of holes? Does he re-negotiate their contracts — or try? Or does he just let them play out the year at those numbers? Decisions, decisions.
Then there’s the returning leaders, good pros and great players any team wants in center Aaron Brewer and linebacker Jordyn Brooks. Each is in his prime at 28. Each enters the final years of his contract.
They’ll want new deals this winter. They deserve them because of their stellar play and attitude. The question becomes how Sullivan lines up a team with limited money with its across-the-roster needs and timeline to start winning again.
If he sees winning in 2027, sign them. But if it’s 2028 or even 2029? Does that change matters?
Bottom line: You could have made Monday’s decisions to release these four players. It started some predictable housecleaning on a roster that needed to get proper alignment by dollars, age and health to go though a rebuild.
But now the hard work is about to begin. Who to pay? Who not to pay, at least immediately? How to play hardball, if necessary?
It’s been a culture of comfort the past four years as coach Mike McDaniel attempted to buy the loyalty of star players with big contracts. GM Chris Grier and Ross went along for the bad ride.
Now it’s Sullivan’s turn to make some tough decisions. They won’t just show us his style of management. They’ll set the tone for how business is done in this new regime and lay the direction of this team’s latest rebuild.
Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill watches as time runs out in the loss to the New England Patriots on Sept. 14, 2025, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Miami Dolphins outside linebacker Bradley Chubb (2) prepares to play against the New York Jets on Dec. 7, 2025, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)