Benched last season, Emmanuel Ogbah became needed as the Dolphins saw their top edge rushers go down with season-ending injuries. With Bradley Chubb and Jaelan Phillips expected back before or during the 2024 season, Miami will make an expected cap-driven move.
The Dolphins intend to release Emmanuel Ogbah, according to ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter. Although Ogbah was a regular presence before Vic Fangio‘s one-and-done season as Dolphins DC, the former starter’s demotion made him a release candidate.
Friday’s $255.4MM salary cap reveal brought good news for cap-strapped teams, but the Dolphins still have plenty of work to do. Before this Ogbah move is calculated, Miami sits more than $38MM over the 2024 cap. Releasing Ogbah will $13.7MM in cap space for the Dolphins. Ogbah was attached to a four-year, $65.4MM deal agreed to in 2022; he was set to carry a $14.93MM base salary next season. Considering his Miami trajectory, that proved unrealistic for the team.
Ogbah, 30, had been a productive pass rusher for the Dolphins on his previous contract. The Dolphins re-signed the former Browns second-round pick in free agency two years ago, but a torn triceps sustained midway through that season — a development that helped bring Chubb to Miami at the trade deadline — changed the previous starter’s trajectory.
Between the 2020 and ’21 seasons, Ogbah cemented his case for a significant raise by registering nine sacks in each season. He totaled 45 quarterback hits in that span. After the Dolphins had Ogbah on a two-year, $15MM deal, the raise did not go as planned. Ogbah will hit free agency on a downturn, and while he could still profile as a rotational rusher somewhere else, the veteran is unlikely to fetch much on the open market given his minimal production over the past two years.
More to come.