Jordyn Brooks is entering the final year of his Miami Dolphins contract with a number attached to his name that the front office can no longer avoid discussing. Spotrac has projected what a new deal would actually cost, and it places him firmly among the league’s highest-paid players at his position.
According to the projection, Brooks would command a four-year, $77.3 million contract worth $19.3 million annually, which would make him the NFL’s third-highest paid linebacker behind San Francisco’s Fred Warner and Baltimore’s Roquan Smith.
Warner currently sits atop the position at $21 million per year.
Why this number puts real pressure on a Dolphins front office still rebuilding
Brooks is coming off a 2025 All-Pro season in which he led the NFL with 183 total tackles and added 3.5 sacks, numbers that justify the figure Spotrac has attached to him.
He carries a $10.9 million cap hit for 2026 on the final year of the three-year, $26.25 million deal he signed in March 2024.
Miami is projected to lead the NFL with roughly $179 million in dead cap during 2026, a figure that limits flexibility even as the front office tries to retain its best defensive player.
💰 Jordyn Brooks is projected to sign a 4-year/$77.3M ($19.3M AAV) contract extension, making Brooks the 3rd-highest paid LB in the NFL, per @spotrac
Thoughts? #PhinsUp pic.twitter.com/OzkwcZlsfO
— FinsXtra (@FinsXtra) June 20, 2026
GM Jon-Eric Sullivan has already extended running back De’Von Achane and center Aaron Brewer this offseason, leaving Brooks as the most significant remaining piece without a long-term resolution.
Age is the complicating factor working against a deal at the full projected number. Brooks will turn 29 in October and would be entering his thirties for the back half of any new contract, a real consideration for a position where physical decline tends to show earlier than at others.
The trade speculation around Brooks hasn’t disappeared either. Past June 1, Miami could save $8.4 million in cap space by moving him rather than re-signing him, a path the front office has not ruled out if a contender comes calling before the trade deadline.
Sullivan has called Brooks a player the team wants as “a pillar on the defensive side of the ball.” Whether that commitment results in a deal matching Spotrac’s figure or a trade sending him elsewhere, the decision is weighing on Miami’s defense as training camp approaches.