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The Miami Dolphins have released K Dan Carpenter which really should came as no surprise. Carpenter struggled at times in 2012 and the Dolphins drafted his replacement, Caleb Sturgis, in the 5th round of the 2013 NFL Draft. Carpenter was in the final year of his contract and carried a salary of $2,675,000. His cash compensation ranked 4th at the position this season making him a pretty clear candidate for release. It was somewhat surprising that the move did not happen earlier, but with only $25,000 in offseason bonus money and the Dolphins not hurting for cap room, Miami could afford to bring Carpenter to camp as insurance in the event their draft pick did not perform well.
Miami will create $2,195,000 in cap space with the release once we factor in a player to replace Carpenter on the roster. That should leave the Dolphins with slightly over $16 million in cap space which the team will likely have earmarked for carryover to 2014 to allow them the salary cap flexibility to re-sign their own free agents and potentially be active again in free agency.
Carpenter will carry a dead money charge in 2013 of $337,500.
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