Benardrick McKinney restructures contract, now has a 1-year deal

The Miami Dolphins quietly slipped the contract extension of LB Benardrick McKinney onto the team’s transaction page to close the week last week — kicking off speculation about what Miami may be reshuffling their salary cap for. Was this a conversion of base salary into a signing bonus as a means of manufacturing more cap space for the 2021 season?

Well, now we know.

And the Dolphins certainly did manufacture more cap space for the coming year; but they didn’t convert money into a signing bonus to prorate out over the course of the remaining years of McKinney’s contract — instead they wiped those years of his contract away clean and effectively negotiated a pay cut for McKinney in 2021. The linebacker will now, according to reports, play with a $3M base salary and cost the Dolphins $4M less against the cap than he was previously scheduled for.

Saving $4M in 2021 and then an additional $18.25M over the next two seasons is quite the cap cleaning maneuver — and it puts McKinney in the pressure cooker for 2021 to perform at a high level. When Miami traded DE Shaq Lawson for McKinney earlier this season, it seemed as though the Dolphins had their eyes on a fixture for the next several seasons. But this restructure paints a very different picture: do or die for McKinney in Miami this season.

DolFan 316 wrote:This is the way every non-rookie player deal should be structured going forward. No more 3-7 year contracts, period. Every non-rookie gets signed to a 2-year deal max. This would be my way of adapting to the new normal of unprecedented player whining and wanting out of multi-year contracts one year in.

white1 wrote:It is an interesting illustration.  Why would he agree to such a cut? Because he "wins" his free agent status two years earlier than he would have under existing contract.

In a climate where the cap is constantly rising, short-term deals may actually benefit the player more vs long-term deals.  With a shorter term, the athlete is essentially betting on themselves that they will be more valuable in the future than they are today.  For the team, if the player disappoints, they are not tied to them long term.

It's possible the market dynamics and advantage for both sides make this more common.

Smart teams will continue to try and get longer term deals, especially with younger players who are not yet proven but are showing great value.