Dolphins bring two more QBs to headquarters. And team’s new safety weighs in
The Dolphins brought at least a fourth and five draft-eligible quarterback to team headquarters, hosting Iowa’s Mark Gronowski and Kansas’ Jalon Daniels on a visit.
Daniels’ trip to team headquarters, first reported by ESPN’s Jordan Reid, and Gronowski’s (conveyed by a source) gave Miami’s coaches and executives a chance to visit with two potential late-round prospects.
Gronowski, who was the MVP of the FCS championship game in both 2023 and 2024 for South Dakota State, met with a top Dolphins executive in recent weeks after not being invited to the NFL Combine. He went 49-6, with 93 touchdowns and 20 interceptions in four seasons at South Dakota State.
He wasn’t as productive in his one season at Iowa, finishing with 10 TDs and seven interceptions, with a 63% completion rate. But he rushed for a Big 10-leading 16 rushing touchdowns on 4.2 yards per carry in his one year in the Big 10, and he has good size (6-4) and strength. Gronowski was MVP of the East/West Shrine game and could be a Dolphins option in the seventh round or after the draft.
Daniels, 6-0, started all 12 games last season and completed 62.1% of his passes with 22 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He also ran 117 times for 404 yards (3.5 per carry) and four touchdowns.
He was a finalist for the William V. Campbell Trophy, which is essentially the Academic Heisman Trophy award.
For his career, he has 67 TDs and 31 picks and has thrown for 9282 yards in 49 games, with a 61.5% completion percentage.
Daniels, who has good speed, has a 3.4 career average on 420 carries (which includes sacks) and 23 TDs rushing. He was second-team All Big in 2022 after throwing 22 touchdowns and four interceptions and was selected as the 2023 Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year, the first Kansas player to receive the award. But he played in only three games in 2023 because of a back injury.
He threw a Big 12-leading 12 interceptions in 2024 but led the conference in yards per completion that season at 14.4.
He ranks 20th in conference history in passing yards and 21st in career passing touchdowns.
Daniels started “MOM2JD6 Foundation” in honor of his mother, Star, to aid single mothers raising athletic children through mentorship, training, financial aid and community resources.
NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein sized him up this way: “Sixth-year senior who was unable to live up to the promise shown earlier in his career. Daniels hasn’t shown the ability to consistently dissect defenses and win with accuracy from the pocket. He has a decent arm but lacks consistent mechanics, timing and three-level ball placement. The vast majority of his interceptions were due to a lack of coverage recognition. Daniels’ running ability helps, but he appears ill-prepared for an NFL passing game.”
Besides Gronowski and Daniels, the Dolphins also have brought in Alabama’s Ty Simpson, Arkansas’ Taylen Green and UM’s Carson Beck for predraft quarterback visits.
Malik Willis, Quinn Ewers and Cam Miller are the Dolphins quarterbacks under contract.
Johnson weighs in
The Dolphins’ only safety with more than three career starts has become the ultimate NFL vagabond, switching teams every year- in some cases, more than once a year — for five years running.
Lonnie Johnson Jr. hopes the Dolphins, his seventh team in five years, keep him around awhile.
After playing his first three seasons in Houston, Johnson has changed teams every year the past five seasons — going from Tennessee to New Orleans to Carolina to Las Vegas, and now to Miami. He also spent time with the Chiefs and the Texans (a second stint) during offseason programs but didn’t appear in a game.
While sustaining a seven-year NFL career has been fulfilling, the journey itself has become exhausting.
“It’s been upsetting, frustrating, been hurt by it,” he said. “My emotions have been everywhere because of myself and my family. People don’t understand a lot of moving pieces especially when you have kids and a wife. It’s tough. You’ve got to try to find a team that really cares about you and it’s not just business. Hopefully it works out.”
As a second-round pick out of Kentucky, Johnson started 19 games in three seasons and had three interceptions for the Texans in 2021. But the Texans traded him three months before his fourth season, sending him to Kansas City for a 2024 conditional seventh-round pick.
The Chiefs cut him midway through training camp, and he has bounced around since, starting only three of his past 48 games.
In his career, Johnson has started 22 of a potential 92 games, snagging four interceptions and registering 17 pass breakups. His most recent stint with the Raiders yielded 25 combined tackles and two pass deflections across nine appearances, two of which were starts. He logged 321 defensive snaps for Las Vegas, allowing 11 completions in 17 attempts for 147 yards and a TD.
“It’s been a roller coaster ride; I’ve been through every emotion career wise,” Johnson said. “That’s probably why I’m so even keeled now. It’s helped me with patience on the field, accepting my role. There are guys that have been in front of me that I know I’ve been better than. I’m happy I’m still in the league going on eight years. I’m going to continue to do my part. If it shows up, it shows up. If they don’t see it, they don’t see it.”
Johnson has played 2,394 career snaps on defense and 1,245 on special teams. He joins veteran special teams core player Zayne Anderson, second-year player Dante Trader Jr. and developmental player Omar Brown as safeties on the Dolphins’ roster.
This is a rare case of someone who could end up a team’s No. 1 safety or not on the roster at all. He could potentially start by default, but he also could be cut in August; it’s telling that Miami guaranteed just $187,500 of his $1.4 million salary.
Johnson has a career 104 passer rating in his coverage area, with 11 touchdowns allowed and four interceptions on 159 targets.
His versatility should be an asset: “I’ve played outside to nickel to safety,” he said. “The more you can do in this league the better.”
If he’s looking for another team against next spring, it won’t be for lack of diligence.
He said he’s “in the building early” and will be “one of the last ones to leave” and will help “some of the younger guys that come in” and teach them “how to handle financial situations [and] being a great teammate and showing them how to be coachable and adapting to different situations.”
Here’s my Tuesday piece on the Dolphins’ search for a safety in the draft and their options.
This story was originally published April 14, 2026 at 2:04 PM.
