The Dolphins went to the waiver wire to add a cornerback on Saturday.
They announced the addition of Jai’Onte’ McMillan to their active roster. McMillan was dropped by the Colts when they signed tight end JJ Galbreath on Friday.
Miami cleared space for McMillan earlier in the day when they released cornerback Nick McCloud.
McMillan was undrafted out of Minnesota this year and he signed with the Colts in June. He played 17 defensive snaps and one special teams snap in the Colts’ preseason opener.
The waiver claim was announced during the Dolphins’ game against the Giants on Saturday afternoon. McMillan will begin practicing with his new team on Monday and could see time in their preseason finale.
The Dolphins freed up a spot on their 90-man roster ahead of their preseason game against the Giants on Saturday.
They announced that they have released cornerback Nick McCloud. McCloud signed with the team on August 10, so it was a very brief stay in Miami for the veteran.
McCloud appeared in 15 games for the Bears last season. He started four games and finished the year with 27 tackles and two passes defensed.
McCloud played for the 49ers, Giants and Bengals prior to joining the Bears. He had 96 tackles, 1.5 sacks, an interception, three forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries during those stops.
The Dolphins signed inside linebacker Stephen Dix Jr. on Friday, the team announced.
In a corresponding move, the Dolphins waived offensive guard James Ester with an injury designation.
Dix signed with the Cardinals as an undrafted free agent on May 14.
He spent the past two seasons at Arkansas and played at Marshall and Florida State before that. He had 79 tackles, four tackles for loss and a sack for the Razorbacks last season.
Ester joined the Dolphins as a waiver claim on May 14.
He entered the NFL in 2024 as an undrafted college free agent with Green Bay, where he spent the past two seasons on the practice squad.
Tyreek Hill became a free agent Feb. 16 when the Dolphins released him. The star wide receiver continues to rehab from a dislocated knee and multiple torn ligaments, including his ACL, in a Sept. 29 game against the Jets.
He is not ready to return yet, his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, said Friday on The Pat McAfee Show.
“I don’t expect Tyreek to sign before the season,” Rosenhaus said. “He sent me video yesterday . . . of him running hills, and he looked great. I said to him, ‘You look great.’ He said to me, ‘I still have some work to do. I’m not ready yet.’
“I am not pressuring Tyreek. Nor am I setting a timeline for him. I think that what I have said to Tyreek is, ‘Take your time. It’s not when you come back. It’s how you come back. We want you to come back when you feel your best. There’s no sense of urgency timing wise. I think this is a future Hall of Famer who still has a lot of good football left in him. This was a devastating injury, but everyone’s going to be so impressed when they see how well Tyreek has rehabbed. It’s not hyperbole for me to predict that he will play this season. When I’m not sure, but I do think when he does sign, he will be a coveted player. He’ll be the kind of guy that will impact the playoff race and will certainly be successful when he signs.”
Hill said in a video he posted to social media on July 22 that he still has no power in his left leg after two surgeries.
He made 21 catches for 265 yards with one touchdown last season.
The Cowboys and Saints were fined after players from the two teams fought at a joint practice this week and two other clubs could be hearing from the league as well.
Reporters at Thursday’s Dolphins-Giants practice said the session had to be stopped multiple times because of skirmishes between players from the two teams. Dolphins right tackle Austin Jackson and Giants right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor were removed from the practice because of their involvement in fights that also included Giants backup quarterback Jameis Winston.
“You’re not trying to do that, but it’s just football,” Giants head coach John Harbaugh said, via a transcript from the team. “It’s not a game, so you don’t have the same, quite, guardrails on it. And it’s a violent game. And so, in this sort of an environment, you have these rules of engagement that aren’t really rules of the game. And then somebody perceives somebody else goes over the line, or they do go over the line, and somebody needs to protect somebody, and that’s where it goes. And I think as long as it doesn’t get out of control where we get a violent type of situation, it’s fine. We decided that anybody that threw a punch in those scrimmages would be treated like the game. That’s why Jermaine didn’t practice toward the end. He didn’t really throw a hard punch, but it was to the facemask, and that’ll get you in the game. So, that’s a 15-yarder at least. So, we decided that we were following those rules of engagement, and that’s what we did with that one.”
The league can fine teams for practices going over the line, but players can only be fined by their clubs. We’ll see if the Dolphins and Giants join the Cowboys and Saints in receiving punishment as well as if they’ll penalize their players for going too far.
