Free agency tracker: Dolphins sign backup receiver, add two ex-Pats, seek linebacker
UPDATED (9:30 p.m.): Kyle Van Noy, cut by the Dolphins recently, will have two chances next season to remind the Dolphins what they’re missing.
Van Noy is returning to the Patriots, NFL Network reported. The two-year deal is worth up to $13.2 million.
The Dolphins haven’t explained the decision to release Van Noy, who had six sacks last season. But releasing him saved more than $9 million in cap space, and unlike Byron Jones, his contract wasn’t guaranteed beyond the first season.
The Dolphins haven’t signed any edge player to replace Van Noy, beyond re-signing Vince Biegel to a low-money deal.
UPDATED (8 p.m.): The chances the Dolphins might not sign a starting receiver in free agency - a notion that seemed unfathomable heading into free agency - is now a real possibility.
One of top remaining options, Carolina’s Curtis Samuel, agreed to a three-year, $34.5 million deal with Washington, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Meanwhile, Detroit free agent Kenny Golladay - who drew Dolphins interest early in free agency -plans to visit the Giants and has an offer from Cincinnati, according to multiple reports.
Among remaining free agent receivers, at least two would be starters if they signed with Miami: Pittsburgh’s Ju-Ju Smith Schuster and Houston’s Will Fuller. But Miami’s level of interest in either is unclear.
The Dolphins have signed one receiver: Robert Foster, a career backup who split time between Green Bay’s practice squad and Washington’s active roster last season.
The Dolphins likely will address wide receiver in the draft.
UPDATED (6 p.m.) Cross Arizona’s Haason Reddick off the list of available pass rushers/edge players available to the Dolphins. He’s signing with Carolina for $8 million a year, per ESPN and NFL Network.
The Dolphins know they need more outside linebackers to supplement Andrew Van Ginkel and Vince Biegel.
The top names remaining: Melvin Ingram, Carlos Dunlap, Jadeveon Clowney, Tak McKinley, Kerry Hyder, Tarell Basham, Ryan Kerrigan, Trent Murphy, Jeremiah Attaochu, Aldon Smith, Olivier Vernon (tore an Achilles in a Cleveland Brown practice on Jan. 4) and Jordan Jenkins. Kyle Van Noy, cut by the Dolphins last week, also remains available.
UPDATED (5:35 p.m.): The Dolphins have signed a wide receiver!
Just one way, way, wayyyy off the radar.
While Kenny Golladay, Curtis Samuel, JuJu Smith Schuster wait for their best offer, Robert Foster found one he couldn’t refuse.
He’s signing with the Dolphins, according to his agency SportsTrust Advisors, and joins what looks to be a pretty strong training camp competition.
Foster has 32 career catches for 642 yards and three touchdowns in three seasons spent with the Bills and Washington Football Team.
He’ll compete with a host of Dolphins wideouts, including Allen Hurns, Albert Wilson, Jakeem Grant, Malcolm Perry, Lynn Bowden, for two or three roster spots in August.
Foster won’t enter the competition cold. He knows the quarterback throwing the ball. Foster and Tua Tagovailoa were both at Alabama in 2017.
UPDATED (5 p.m.): The Dolphins are still looking to fill four needs as free agency nears the end of its third day: receiver, center, another edge rusher and inside linebacker depth.
The Dolphins remain very much in play for Patriots free agent center David Andrews, a top target all week. The only question is whether they can agree on price, an issue that was unresolved as of midday Wednesday.
The Patriots on Wednesday replaced him with Ted Karras, the Dolphins’ center in 2020. The Dolphins directly told Karras at least twice this offseason that they wanted him back - including last week - but never made an offer while they talked to Andrews’ representation and others.
Karras had been told by the Dolphins that he would be addressed later in free agency. But he opted not to wait on Miami when an opportunity arose to return to his former team.
As for receiver, four top players remained available as of 5 p.m. Wednesday: Kenny Golladay, Curtis Samuel, Ju-Ju Smith Schuster and Will Fuller. The Dolphins were believed to have interest in at least the first two and potentially all four.
The Dolphins didn’t pursue TY Hilton earlier this week because of a preference for a player younger than the 32-year-old Hilton. An agent for a mid-level free agent receiver said the Dolphins appear inclined to see how the dominoes fall with the handful of top guys, while monitoring the market of second-tier players.
With linebacker, the Dolphins are still looking for at least one more edge player and depth at inside linebacker.
With regard to inside linebacker, they inquired about former UM standout Denzel Perryman, who’s signing with Carolina, and remain in the mix for Houston’s Tyrell Adams, who was 10th in the league in tackles last season.
As for edge players, Haason Reddick and Jadaveon Clowney remain among the top available names. Former Jets starter Tarell Basham, Kerry Hyder (8.5 sacks for the 49ers last season) and Aldon Smith - who rejuvenated his career in Dallas last season - are among a bunch of other options.
Miami has only two established outside linebackers on the roster: Andrew Van Ginkel and Vince Biegel. More will be added in free agency and, likely, in the draft.
UPDATED (4:30 p.m.): Happy New Year!
And if your names aren’t Kyle Van Noy or Shaq Lawson, you made it to the new league year still a member of the Miami Dolphins.
Lawson on Wednesday was officially traded along with a sixth-round pick to the Houston Texans for inside linebacker Benardrick McKinney and a seventh-rounder.
The Dolphins also processed the trade for offensive tackle Isaiah Wilson, swapping seventh round picks with the Titans in 2021 and 2022 in the process.
The Dolphins enter 2021 with $7.3 million in dead money and somewhere in the area of $20 million of cap space.
UPDATED (3:55 p.m.): That didn’t take long. Just ahead of the start of the new league year, the Raiders trade Rodney Hudson and a seventh-round pick to the Arizona Cardinals for a third-rounder, ESPN reports.
UPDATED (2:57 p.m.): Guess Jon Gruden got the message: Rodney Hudson is a good player with value in the league, and thus he shouldn’t just be cut if there’s a trade market for him.
ESPN’s Josina Anderson reports that the Raiders are shopping their very good center, and there are talks of it “potentially involving a second-day pick.”
The Dolphins have three second-day picks, including two in the top 50. The problem? He’d take up a sizable chunk of their remaining cap space. He’s owed nearly $10 million in salary and bonuses, according to Over The Cap.
UPDATED (12:10 p.m.): The Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots are basically trading trench players this offseason.
Davon Godchaux and Ted Karras are signing with New England.
Adam Butler and potentially David Andrews are signing with Miami.
Butler is the latest to switch sides in this AFC East arms race, agreeing to two-year contract worth more than $7 million, the Miami Herald has learned.
Butler, 26, fills the spot vacated when Godchaux bolted for Boston. The 6-5, 300-pound defensive tackle has appeared in 63 games in his four-year career, starting 12. He has 15 sacks and 20 tackles for loss in that time.
UPDATED (12:07 p.m.): The Dolphins will have a new center once again in 2021.
Ted Karras, who was the Dolphins’ most reliable offensive lineman in his lone season in Miami, is returning to New England. NBC 6’s Ruthie Polinsky, among others, reports that Karras is signing a one-year deal with the Patriots.
The Dolphins had communicated to Karras that they wanted him back, but this week instead focused their attention on David Andrews, another Patriots center. A deal with Andrews could happen as soon as today.
UPDATED (11:18 a.m.): Even as the Dolphins have been searching for wide receiver help this offseason, there is help on the way in the form of Allen Hurns and Albert Wilson.
Both opted out during the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020 but a league source confirmed to the Miami Herald Wednesday both intend to opt back in for 2021.
And both are in the team’s plans, according to a source.
So what does that mean? Well, both are at this point expected to be at training camp this summer and compete.
Is that likely to change if the Dolphins go out and add two or three new wide receivers? Maybe. But the fact neither has been cut as the new league year begins Wednesday is an indication Wilson and Hurns -- who were contributors in 2019 -- will get an opportunity to be that in Miami again.
UPDATED (10:20 a.m.): The Dolphins are signing ex-Lions cornerback Justin Coleman to a one-year deal worth up to $2.75 million, the Miami Herald has confirmed. NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero first reported the transaction.
Coleman’s obvious tie to the Dolphins? He played for the Patriots when Brian Flores coached New England’s safeties in 2015 and 2016.
Coleman, who turns 28 next week, has appeared in 79 games, starting 29, in his career with four interceptions, four forced fumbles and two defensive touchdowns.
He is expected to compete with Nik Needham for the Dolphins’ slot cornerback job this fall; former first-round pick Noah Igbinoghene is also expected to get a look at that spot.
Coleman struggled at times in coverage last year, allowing 77.8 percent of passes thrown in his coverage area to be completed for four touchdowns and a 135.0 passer rating.
The signing will drop the Dolphins’ remaining available cap space to roughly $20 million, and much of that will be needed to sign their draft class.
UPDATED (9:45 a.m.): When will the Dolphins sign a wide receiver?
The options at the top of the board are dwindling.
One more name came off Wednesday morning, when John Brown agreed to a deal with the Raiders that ESPN reports is for $3.75 million.
The Dolphins were not among the teams that reached out to Brown’s camp immediately after the Bills cut him.
Perhaps their focus is on one of the top four receivers still available: Kenny Golladay, Curtis Samuel, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Will Fuller.
***
Welcome to free agency!
No really.
Those past two days? Soft launches.
The grand opening is Wednesday at 4 p.m.
Which means, technically, the Dolphins’ trades for Isaiah Wilson and Benardrick McKinney could still fall through, just like the free agent deals for Jacoby Brissett, Malcolm Brown and Cethan Carter.
Spoiler alert: Those deals will almost certainly not fall through, and we hope to hear from each of those new Miami Dolphins players in the coming days.
But just because Chris Grier and Brian Flores got a head-start on the league year doesn’t mean their work is done.
Far from.
Is today the day they sign a wide receiver? An edge rusher? A center?
They need starters at all three positions and soon, the market should meet their budget.
But before the fireworks begin, he encourage you to read Beasley try to make sense of the Dolphins’ actions, and Salguero give a status update on the AFC East offseason race at the quarter pole.
This story was originally published March 17, 2021 at 8:16 AM with the headline "Free agency tracker: Dolphins sign backup receiver, add two ex-Pats, seek linebacker."
