Miami linebacker Quinton Bell played all 17 games last season, but the Dolphins are ready to let him leave in free agency this year.
The Dolphins will not tender Bell as a restricted free agent, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN. That means Bell becomes an unrestricted free agent on Wednesday.
Bell earned rave reviews in training camp last year and earned a spot on the active roster, and then he played in every game, mostly on special teams but also getting three starts on defense. Ordinarily, that would be enough to stick around with a restricted free agent tender offer, but the Dolphins have decided to let him test free agency.
The 28-year-old Bell originally entered the NFL as a seventh-round raft pick of the Raiders out of Prairie View A&M in 2019. He has also spent time with the Buccaneers, Falcons and Eagles.
Veteran edge rusher Bradley Chubb will be back with the Dolphins in 2025.
According to multiple reports, Chubb has agreed to a revised contract with the team. Chubb was set to have a base salary of $19.45 million for the coming season, but will now make less under the new deal.
Per the reports, Chubb will be able to earn back the rest of his compensation through incentives.
Chubb tore his ACL during the 2023 season and did not play at all in 2024. He had 73 tackles, 11 sacks, and six forced fumbles before his 2023 injury and the Dolphins would love to see a return to that kind of production this year.
The Dolphins took care of some roster housekeeping on Wednesday.
The team announced that they have tendered linebacker Cameron Goode and tackle Kion Smith as exclusive rights free agents. Neither player can negotiate with the tender in place, so they’re both likely to be in Miami when the team resumes work.
Goode played in 17 games as a rookie and made six tackles while seeing most of his playing time on special teams. A knee injury forced him to miss most of the 2024 season, but he did return to make one tackle in three appearances.
A knee injury also features into Smith’s NFL story. He tore his ACL last year and missed the season, but did play in nine 2023 games.
Wide receiver Grant DuBose is the team’s third exclusive rights free agent. He will become an unrestricted free agent if he’s not tendered by the start of the new league year.
TThe Fox studio show is going to be a bit different for the 2025 season.
Jimmy Johnson announced on a Monday appearance on The Herd that he is leaving the show and retiring from broadcasting. Johnson first worked for the network after his run as the Cowboys head coach ended in March, 1994 and then returned after coaching the Dolphins from 1996 to 1999.
“I’ve made an extremely difficult decision,” Johnson said. “I’ve been thinking about it for the last four or five years, but I’ve decided to retire from Fox. I’m gonna miss it, I’m gonna miss all the guys but it has been a great run starting 31 years ago.”
Curt Menefee, Terry Bradshaw, Michael Strahan, Howie Long, Rob Gronkowski, and Jay Glazer make up the rest of the studio crew on Fox NFL Sunday.
The NFL Players Association’s survey of players graded teams from A to F on a wide variety of issues, and in many areas teams were found lacking. But most players liked their head coaches.
Six head coaches — Washington’s Dan Quinn, Atlanta’s Raheem Morris, Minnesota’s Kevin O’Connell, Kansas City’s Andy Reid, Detroit’s Dan Campbell and Miami’s Mike McDaniel — got A+ grades from their players.
Nine more head coaches got A grades and five got an A-. Four head coaches got a B+, four got a B and one a B-. The lowest grade was C, which was given to Cleveland’s Kevin Stefanski and two coaches who have since been fired, Jacksonville’s Doug Pederson and Chicago’s Matt Eberflus.
Among the NFLPA report card’s findings from the A+ coaches:
“100% of Commanders players feel their head coach Dan Quinn is efficient with their time. He is one of six coaches across the league to receive a perfect score. The players feel that Quinn is highly receptive to locker room feedback on the team’s needs, ranking him 1 of 32 head coaches in the league.”
“New head coach Raheem Morris has positively changed the culture in just his first year. In addition, players are very complimentary about the newly hired head strength coach compared to his predecessor.”
“The players feel O’Connell is highly receptive to locker room feedback on the team’s needs, ranking him 3 of 32 head coaches in the league.”
“Head coach Dan Campbell received an A+, the team’s highest graded area, for the second year in a row. When asked what the team does best, the players’ resounding answers were culture and leadership, reflecting the great work that Campbell does as head coach.”
