*** DOLPHINS NEWS ***

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Feb 26, 1996: -- Troy Vincent Signs Offer Sheet --

Cornerback Troy Vincent, one of two Dolphins' free agents who have been designated as transition players, has signed an offer sheet with the Philadelphia Eagles for a reported $16.4 million.

The deal is supposed to be for 5 years, but is front-end loaded to make it more difficult for the Dolphins to match. Vincent would reportedly earn $4.5 million next year. Along with that salary, Vincent is being offered a signing bonus of about $5 million.

Under NFL rules, the Dolphins have 7 days to match the offer to Vincent or he will be an Eagle next season. If he does sign with Philadelphia, he will be the second highest paid Eagle ever, behind only Randal Cunningham.

In other news, reports are that the Dolphins are not even talking to Keith Sims about staying in Miami. According to at least one source, the Dolphins have not talked to Sims at all since the end of the season.

My Comments:

Vincent was considered to be one of the "must retain" players in the off-season and all the rumors are that the Dolphins will make every effort to match the Eagles' offer. However, it may not be possible for them to match it.

The current salary cap position is a little confusing. The best information I have seems to indicate that the salary cap right now is about $39 million. It will probably climb to about $41 million by the start of the regular season, but today's figure is under $40 million.

If the figures above are correct, the Dolphins have to come up with about $5.5 million dollars worth of room under the cap to sign Vincent and I don't believe that they have it.

Still, we won't know for sure until the 7 day period that the Dolphins have to match the offer runs out on Friday. Keep your fingers crossed.

The loss of Vincent would be very damaging to the Dolphins. Even though Buckley came on late in the year, there is no question that the loss of Vincent would leave a gaping hole in the secondary.