The Dolphins are set to part ways with two more veteran members of the roster.
NFL Media reports that the team will release fullback Alec Ingold and Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that they are expected to release kicker Jason Sanders.
Ingold was set to have a salary of $3.55 million this year with a cap hit of more than $5 million. The Dolphins will realize over $3 million in cap space by parting ways with their fullback from the last four seasons.
Sanders and the Dolphins were reportedly trying to work out a new contract, but cutting him will provide nearly $4 million in savings.
The Dolphins have also parted ways with wide receiver Tyreek Hill, edge rusher Bradley Chubb, wide receiver Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, and offensive lineman James Daniels. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is also expected to be out as the Dolphins remake their roster under new head coach Jeff Hafley and General Manager Jon-Eric Sullivan.
The Miami Dolphins have a problem. And there’s apparently only one solution to it.
They need to release quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
A trade is looking less and less likely. If a trade happens, it would have to be a Brock Osweiler-type deal, with the Dolphins giving Tua’s new team something significant to take on Tua’s contract.
The Dolphins owe him $54 million in 2026, fully guaranteed. They’ll absorb a $99.2 million cap charge if/when they cut him.
As to the difficulty of making a trade happen, consider this. Via Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports, an unnamed “high-ranking team executive” said that he “considered taking on Tagovailoa if the Dolphins would send a first-round pick to take on the freight of his contract.”
In 2017, the Texans sent a second-round pick in 2018 and a 2017 sixth-round pick to the Browns to get them to absorb Osweiler’s contract, which had $16 million in full guarantees that year. (Houston received a 2017 fourth-round pick in return.)
In 2021, the Rams did it in a more subtle fashion, essentially tucking an extra first-round pick into the Matthew Stafford trade to get the Lions to assume Jared Goff’s guarantees.
Whether the Dolphins find a taker for Tua remains to be seen. The compensation sent with Tua’s contract will become less obvious if it’s part of a bigger trade.
Regardless, the Dolphins will have to give someone else something valuable to take on a large chunk of the $54 million Tua is owed this year, thanks to an ill-advised contract that former G.M. Chris Grier gave to Tagovailoa two years ago.
The Jonnu Smith experiment in Pittsburgh has ended.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that the Steelers will be releasing the veteran tight end.
Smith was entering the final year of his contract. He was due to make $7 million in 2026. He’ll leave behind a $3.872 million dead cap charge.
(Smith is represented by agent Drew Rosenhaus. The scoop from Schefter is completely and totally unrelated to his recent effort to question the accuracy of the official 40-yard dash time at the Scouting Combine from another Rosenhaus client, former Ohio State receiver Carnell Tate — even though the flaws from the hand timing of Tate’s performance potentially affected every other player who participated in the event, none of which Schefter publicly scrutinized.)
In 17 games last year, with seven starts, Smith caught 38 passes for 222 yards and two touchdowns. It was a sharp drop from his 884-yard performance a year earlier in Miami.
Smith was part of the trade that brought defensive back Jalen Ramsey to Pittsburgh, while sending safety Minkah Fitzpatrick back to Miami.
A nine-year veteran, the 30-year-old Smith has played for the Titans, Patriots, Falcons, Dolphins, and Steelers. He’ll become a free agent once released.
The Dolphins will be holding onto linebacker Cameron Goode.
The team announced that they have re-signed Goode on Wednesday. He was set to be a restricted free agent this offseason.
Goode initially joined the Dolphins as a seventh-round pick in 2022. He played in all 17 games as a rookie, but missed most of the 2024 season after injuring his knee in the final week of the regular season. Goode returned to play all 17 games again last season.
Goode has seen most of his playing time on special teams since entering the league. He has been credited with 29 career tackles.
The Cardinals will release quarterback Kyler Murray next week. Where will he land?
DraftKings has the Vikings as the early favorites to sign the first overall pick in the 2019 draft, at -110.
The Jets are next at +175, with the Dolphins at +320 and the Browns at +450.
The Falcons, at +500, are one of the most intriguing options, given their talent elsewhere on offense. As mentioned over the weekend, however, new president of football operations Matt Ryan (a 6'5" former quarterback) will have to be content to ride with an undersized signal caller.
There’s a long shot to watch, at +7500: The Rams. They’ll likely need a replacement for Jimmy Garoppolo at No. 2 behind Matthew Stafford, and there’s an unverified (for now) rumor making the rounds that Stafford has already contacted Murray to make the case for coming to L.A.
Murray’s former head coach in Arizona, Kliff Kingsbury, is now a member of the Rams’ coaching staff. And Murray’s former Oklahoma teammate, Baker Mayfield, had a late 2022 cup of coffee with the Rams that may have helped launch his resurgence in Tampa.
The real question is whether Murray wants to play in 2026, or whether he’s content to take a step back for a year and lay the foundation for wherever he’ll be in 2027.
Either way, the clock is ticking (as it is for all of us). Murray turns 29 later this year. The high-end speed and acceleration will fade. At some point, he’ll need to transition to pocket passer if he hopes to keep playing deep into his 30s.
