Fins Sign Linebacker Gary Guyton
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The Miami Dolphins continued adding to their roster Tuesday when they officially announced the addition of former New England Patriots linebacker Gary Guyton.
Guyton is in his fifth year in the NFL and spent his first four as a Patriot. He played in 60 games and started 32 for Bill Belichick. So far in his career, Guyton has 4.5 sacks, three interceptions, 14 passes defensed, three fumble recoveries, and one forced fumble.
The Patriots acquired Guyton after the 2008 NFL Draft ended as an unrestricted rookie free agent.
During Guyton's final season at Georgia Tech, he had 78 tackles and a career-high five sacks as he started all thirteen games.
The signing of Guyton leaves the Dolphins likely just short of the projected 2012 salary cap. The Dolphins must allocate approximately $5.99 million for the rookie salaries considering they have eight picks in the NFL Draft.
Subtracting the rookie salary pool from the Dolphins remaining cap space gives the team roughly $357,208 in salary cap space. In other words, several players will be cut or restructured.
The biggest savings could be from putting together a long-term contract with left tackle Jake Long. He currently counts $12.8 million against the salary cap with a base salary of $11.2 million. If the Fins could ink Long, it could free up several million in cap space.
Linebacker Karlos Dansby is the next most expensive player on the Dolphins roster at $11.325 million
