Dolphins set to work out former Alabama All American linebacker and 49ers first-round pick
Reuben Foster, a former All-American linebacker at Alabama and a San Francisco 49ers first-round pick who hasn’t played in the NFL since 2018 in the wake of a serious knee injury, will audition for the Dolphins on Friday, according to a source close to the team.
Foster, 28, is fully recovered from a major knee injury that sidelined him in 2019 and 2020 and is hoping to get back in the league.
Foster, who has lived in Miami the past two years, worked out for the Jets, Jacksonville and Cleveland last September but didn’t sign with any of them.
Foster was an elite player at Alabama, winning The Butkus Award given to the nation’s top linebacker as a junior, then producing 115 tackles and five sacks as a senior in 2016.
San Francisco selected him 31st overall in the 2017 Draft; he dropped from a potential top 20 pick in the wake of a failed, diluted drug test and spring shoulder surgery. Foster blamed food poisoning for forcing him to hydrate to the point that his urine sample was reported as diluted at the NFL Combine.
Foster played in 10 games (all starts) as a 49ers rookie, producing 72 tackles and seven for loss and five quarterback hits. Pro Football Focus rated him first among all rookie linebackers and fourth among all linebackers.
Observing him daily was new Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel, who was hired as the 49ers’ run game coordinator before that 2017 season.
In the summer of 2018, Foster was suspended two games for violating the league’s personal conduct policy, stemming from a weapons offense and a misdemeanor drug offense.
He started six games for the 49ers in that 2018 season but was released in November after he was arrested on probable cause misdemeanor domestic violence charges.
Washington claimed him off waivers three days later, and an internal NFL investigation found no evidence to support him being suspended. And in January 2019, the Florida State Attorney’s Office dropped those November 2018 charges, claiming that there was insufficient evidence against Foster after reviewing the case.
He has had no known legal issues since.
But an injury derailed his career, at least temporarily. In his first practice with Washington in May 2019, he sustained a torn ACL and torn LCL and significant nerve damage in his left knee and spent two seasons on injured reserve.
He sat out last season after the three September workouts did not result in a contract.
Foster — who’s listed at 6-1 and 228 pounds — has the distinction of having started every NFL game in which he has appeared (all 16).
“I think Reuben Foster is the best inside linebacker I’ve seen since Luke Kuechly,” then-NFL Network draft analyst (and former Raiders general manager) Mike Mayock said before the 2017 Draft. “His tape is unbelievable — I love watching him play.”
After Foster’s career ended at Alabama, coach Nick Saban told reporters that Foster has “always been a great player for us here. We’ve never had any issues with Reuben. He’s always been a great leader and signal-caller on defense. He’s bright and has always been a great team guy and really well-liked by his teammates.”
If Foster demonstrates that his knee injury hasn’t diminished his skills, he could help an inside linebacker group that returns its top three players from a year ago — Jerome Baker, Elandon Roberts and Duke Riley. Miami also re-signed Sam Eguavoen.
It’s a busy day at Dolphins headquarters. More than two dozen draft prospects who played high-school or college football in South Florida also are working out for the team at the Dolphins’ annual local day.
This story was originally published April 8, 2022 at 10:35 AM.
