Dolphins To Release DL Mario Williams

The Dolphins will waive defensive lineman Mario Williams this offseason, a source tells Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. It has been long expected that the Dolphins would drop Williams. Mario Williams

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If Williams were to remain on the roster on the fifth day of the 2017 league year, he would have $3.5MM of his scheduled $8.485MM base salary guaranteed. The Dolphins have no interest in paying out his salary after a year in which he declined sharply. Williams was relegated to the bench in his first season with Miami and defensive coordinator Vance Joseph even slammed him publicly for a perceived lack of effort. Lately, he has been squeezed out of the gameplan altogether. Williams was a healthy scratch in Week 17 and he’ll likely be squeezed out on Sunday when the Dolphins face the Steelers in the first round of the playoffs.

Of course, this isn’t what the Dolphins had in mind when they signed Super Mario to a two-year, $17MM deal this spring. Williams had only five sacks in 2015, but in the year prior he piled up 14.5 sacks. The Dolphins felt that a change of scenery and a return to a 4-3 system would benefit him, but he instead turned in the worst season of his career. Now on the verge of his 32nd birthday, Williams will be a free agent and will have to take a drastic pay cut if he wants to continue playing.

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