Dolphins to cut Karlos Dansby

The Miami Dolphins are parting ways with middle linebacker Karlos Dansby, according to a club source.

The team informed agent Todd France that his client would be waived this afternoon. The move to sign younger, cheaper Dannell Ellerbe from the Baltimore Ravens led to this move.

I explained the salary cap ramifications of this move in the last post.

But what you have to know is te team saved $3.9 million in cap space by cutting Dansby. The Dolphins apparently gauged interest in Dansby on the trade market but there was none of note.

By the way, aside from being a cap move, the reason Dansby is gone is his play didn't produce the kind of game-changing plays the Dolphins wanted or expected when he came to the team in 2010 as an unrestricted free agent addition.

In addition, Dansby irked head coach Joe Philbin on a couple of occassions  by openly criticizing the team's handling of the Chad Johnson cut and also by announcing he was playing with a torn biceps muscle after the Dolphins asked him not to speak about the injury.

Philbin discussed the issues with Dansby but it apparently left the coach at least wondering if Dansby was a fit.

If Dansby has been a better player, the issues with Philbin might have been forgotten. He wasn't so they were amplified.

Dansby, 31, led the Dolphins with 133 tackles. He had nine tackles for loss but he neither caused nor recovered any fumbles and did not intercept any passes.

This move takes into account the player Dansby is today, but also next year when he'll be 32 years old and costing $11.575 million against the cap.

Instead the Dolphins will carry $4.6 million in dead money for cutting Dansby this year and another $2.3 million in dead money next year.