4 Miami Dolphins who won't be back in 2024 after getting iced out in playoffs

1. Emmanuel Ogbah, EDGE

It turned out to be absolutely crucial that the Dolphins invested heavily in their edge rushers coming into the past few years. Jaelan Phillips and Bradley Chubb both suffered season-ending injuries down the stretch. That made having a veteran like Emmanuel Ogbah on the roster absolutely crucial for this team to main some semblance of the pass rush off of the edge.

Ogbah played in 15 games this season and was a fine player. He finished the season with 5.5 sacks, three tackles for loss and nine QB hits with a forced fumble as well. Overall, he was solid against the pass but was an absolute disaster show against the run, which proved costly for this defense.

When the Dolphins inked Ogbah to a four-year deal in 2022, though, they gave themselves an out in the contract for this offseason. Per Over the Cap, Miami can save $13.8 million with $4 million in dead cap by cutting Ogbah pre-June 1, which bumps up to $15.8 million as a post-June 1 cut. And with the likely push to retain Wilkins, Baker or both, this franchise needs to cut money where they can.

The most obvious way to do that is cutting Ogbah by my estimation. He would offer the most cap savings outside of Xavien Howard (which could be another option, but I'm less confident there than with Ogbah), and hasn't been good enough to be a $17.8 million cap hit at 30 years old, potentially beginning the downside of his career. And though it's not 100% certain, I'd bet this is how things play out.