Rasul Douglas joins Commanders after one year in Miami. And Dolphins center news
Rasul Douglas, who was the Dolphins’ best cornerback last season, agreed to a one-year deal with the Washington Commanders on Monday after Miami showed no interest in re-signing him.
Douglas’ deal with the Commanders could be worth as much as $3.8 million.
Miami never made an offer to Douglas this offseason, a source said.
Despite the Dolphins’ youth movement, Miami’s complete lack of interest was mildly surprising because the Dolphins need cornerback help and because Douglas and general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan have a background in Green Bay.
In his one season with the Dolphins, Douglas closed with a 67 passer rating in his coverage area last season — seventh best among corners with at least 50 targets, in between top 10 first-round picks Pat Surtain Jr. and Derek Stingley Jr. Pro Football Focus ranked him 19th among 114 qualifying cornerbacks.
While bypassing Douglas, the Dolphins instead signed former Titans starter Darrell Baker Jr., who permitted a 135.8 passer rating in his coverage area for Tennessee last season, which was worst among all cornerbacks targeted more than 32 times (more than twice per game).
Baker, who missed part of the offseason program with an undisclosed injury, yielded 42 receptions in 58 targets for 621 yards and five touchdowns, with no interceptions.
Douglas, conversely, permitted only 41 completions in 75 targets for 410 yards, with three touchdowns and two interceptions.
But Baker, 28, is two years younger than Douglas, and he was cheaper; he accepted a $1.25 minimum deal with $1.1 million guaranteed.
First-round pick Chris Johnson, Baker, Jason Marshall Jr., Juju Brents and Ethan Bonner are expected to compete for the Dolphins’ three starting cornerback jobs (two on the boundary, one in the slot).
Of that group, Johnson and Marshall Jr. are particularly well positioned to play a lot.
A.J. Green, Marco Wilson, Alex Austin, injured Storm Duck, Miles Battle and Ethan Robinson also are competing.
This and that
Aaron Brewer’s new contract raises his take-home pay from $5.5 million to $12.5 million this season. His cap charge rose by close to $700,000 to $5.6 million, per overthecap.com.
His $14.1 million salary in 2027 is guaranteed, but his $15.3 million salary next season is not.
▪ Andrew Meyer, who’s competing with Iowa State rookie Jim Bonifas for the backup center job, said last year’s elbow injury, which sidelined him most of the season, “mentally set me back a little further than physically.
“By the time I came back at the end of the year, when we played Tampa and [Aaron Brewer] was out that week, I felt close to 100%. Now I’m trying to get back to where I was before the injury. I have a little different confidence level coming into this offseason.”
Meyer, signed by the Chris Grier regime as an undrafted free agent out of UTEP, played well in that Tampa Bay game — his only appearance of the season. He allowed no pressures, sacks or quarterback hits and did good work in the run game against defensive tackle Vita Vea, helping free the Dolphins’ running backs for 168 scrimmage yards.
▪ ESPN on Monday rated the Dolphins’ starting lineup as the worst in football.
The network identified running back as the team’s biggest strength, noting De’Von Achane’s 5.62 yards per carry is “best among qualified backs since he entered the league.”
The piece identified the secondary as Miami’s biggest weakness, noting “the Dolphins are in full rebuild mode and have several units that rank among the league’s worst. That makes it hard to pick for this exercise, but we’ll go secondary. On paper, this is a worse group than the one that allowed a 58.3 QBR last season [fifth worst].”
This story was originally published July 6, 2026 at 1:19 PM.
