Miami Dolphins

The Dolphins have announced the death of Manny Fernandez at the age of 79.

Fernandez signed with the Dolphins — who were then an AFL team — after going undrafted in 1968 and played his entire career with the team before retiring after the 1975 season. Fernandez’s run included three trips to the Super Bowl and back-to-back championships after the 1972 and 1973 seasons.

Fernandez had sacks in each of those Super Bowl wins and is unofficially credited — the NFL did not officially record sacks until 1982 — with 35 regular season sacks and 4.5 playoff sacks for his career.

The Dolphins became the first and only NFL team to go undefeated for an entire season in 1972. That entire team was inducted into the Dolphins’ Honor Roll and Fernandez was also inducted individually in 2014.

The Dolphins have many key new pieces. And they want the new centerpiece of their offense to not worry, for now, about the leadership aspect of playing quarterback.

“My main focus for him right now is to learn the scheme, get to know the players and not overdo the whole leadership thing,” coach Jeff Hafley said recently, via Marcel Louis-Jacques of ESPN. “I mean, I think that’s my job and [the coaches’] job right now, so he can focus on becoming the best quarterback and the best player and the best teammate he can be.”

Willis, a four-year veteran with six career starts, is fine with that approach.

“It’s about building trust,” Willis said. “I mean, every play we go out there, whether it’s calling the play, whether it’s executing the play, whether it’s making sure somebody else can get lined up, you build that over time. I don’t think you just put somebody in a position to say, ‘OK, you’re the leader now.’ You got to earn that.”

Willis is right. Leadership is the byproduct of performance. As Willis proves himself on the field, other players will follow him.

For now, he’s the new guy. The replacement for Tua Tagovailoa. And Willis hasn’t done enough elsewhere to walk through the door and take the bull by the blowhole.

If things go the way the Dolphins hope, Willis will become a leader. That will mean he’s getting it done in practices and, more importantly, during games.

The Dolphins announced a handful of roster moves on Thursday.

They have signed offensive lineman Marques Cox and running back Carlos Washington Jr. to their 90-man roster. They waived tight end Jalin Conyers and offensive lineman Braeden Daniels in corresponding moves.

Cox spent time on practice squads in Arizona and Denver last season. He started 59 games at Northern Illinois and Kentucky with most of his playing time coming at left tackle.

Washington spent the last couple of seasons with the Falcons and played in two games. He saw all of his playing time on special teams in those appearances.

Dolphins running back De’Von Achane has gotten his long-term deal. We’ve gotten our hands on the terms.

Per a league source, here are the full details of the new Achane contract:

1. Signing bonus: $4.233 million.

2. 2026 base salary: $1.145 million.

3. 2027 offseason workout bonus: $500,000, fully guaranteed (but must be earned).

4. 2027 base salary: $10.5 million, fully guaranteed.

5. 2027 per-game roster bonus: $1 million total, fully guaranteed (but must be earned).

6. 2028 workout bonus: $200,000.

7. 2028 base salary: $14.225 million, $10 million of which is guaranteed for injury at signing. Of that amount, $3 million becomes fully guaranteed in March 2027. The remaining $7 million becomes fully guaranteed in March 2028.

8. 2028 per-game roster bonus: $1 million total.

9. 2029 workout bonus: $200,000.

10. 2029 base salary: $14.225 million.

11. 2029 per-game roster bonus: $1 million total.

12. 2030 workout bonus: $200,000.

13. 2030 base salary: $15.717 million.

14. 2030 per-game roster bonus: $1 million total.

The deal includes $1 million in incentives from 2027 through 2030.

The four-year extension has a base value of $64 million, giving it an average of $16 million per year. The maximum value is $68 million.

The deal has $17.378 million fully guaranteed at signing, with another $3 million vesting in March 2027 and the final $7 million vesting in 2028.

Coupled with his existing 2026 compensation of $5.767 million, Achane will make $69.767 million over five years, for an average of $13.95 million annually from the time of signing.

The NFL’s current political issues include an effort by Florida attorney general James Uthmeier to challenge the league’s diversity initiatives. Most recently, Uthmeier issued an investigative subpoena to the NFL, along with a letter suggesting that the league’s response to his initial communication may have violated the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act by revising “many references” on its public website to its allegedly “unlawful ‘inclusive hiring’ policies.”

Commissioner Roger Goodell was in Florida on Tuesday, for the most recent ownership meeting. During a press conference conducted at the conclusion of the sessions, Goodell was asked about Uthmeier’s ongoing assault on the league.

“I think we have been very clear about our programs, and we obviously evaluate them all the time, not just for how they get better, but also to make sure that they’re consistent with the law,” Goodell said, via the Associated Press. “We’re engaging with the Florida attorney general and will continue to. We’ll share everything we’re doing with them. We think it’s certainly within the law, but also something very positive.”

The best evidence, frankly, would be to point to the teams’ hiring practices regarding coaches and General Managers. Despite efforts to expand the interview pool to include diverse candidates, the ultimate decisions — made exclusively by the teams and not the league — do not represent the demographics of the player population.

Uthmeier, who is running for election in 2026 to the job for which he received a gubernatorial appointment, may be engaging in performative antics. Time will tell whether his letter-writing campaign and request for information becomes something more than that.

Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores has a tiger by the tail. And he’s pulling it, hard.

Via Daniel Kaplan in an item published by Front Office Sports, Flores will be amending his complaint against the NFL and multiple teams on Wednesday to include a claim for retaliation. The alleged basis for the retaliation is Flores’s opposition to the NFL’s enforcement of its arbitration provisions in employment agreements.

The argument is simply stated, even if it will be difficult to prove. He’ll argue that his head-coaching prospects have been blocked by his aggressive, and to date successful, assault on the NFL’s habit of requiring coaches to agree to contracts that require all disputes to be resolved by arbitration ultimately controlled by the league.

Flores has secured multiple victories on that front, culminating in a federal appeals court scrapping the league’s longstanding practice of forcing coaches to submit to an in-house procedure that has the head of the organization — the Commissioner — ultimately responsible for processing and deciding claims made against the NFL and/or its teams.

Flores, who continues to be one of the most successful defensive coordinators in the NFL, has been unable to get a second head-coaching job since being fired by the Dolphins after the 2021 season. (His pending lawsuit includes a retaliation claim against the Texans for not hiring him in the aftermath of the filing of his race discrimination case against the NFL and multiple teams.)

Kaplan also reports that Flores has sought information from all 32 teams about their hiring practices, now that the discovery process is moving forward.

Flores filed his lawsuit in early 2022. For most of the past four-plus years, the case has been bogged down as to the threshold question of whether the claims will be processed in arbitration, or in open court.

It’s gutsy, to say the least, for Flores to keep pushing these issues as aggressively as he is. Businesses like the NFL don’t like to be sued. It will make it harder for Flores to get another head-coaching job, even if he’s been kept out due to improper motivations.

Still, if he truly believes in his position, he’s doing the right thing by refusing to back down.

That said, proving retaliation will be a challenge. No one will admit to it. His lawyers will be required to show through circumstantial evidence and/or aggressive cross-examination that the stated reason(s) for not hiring Flores are a pretext for a prohibited consideration.

When quarterback Malik Willis agreed to sign with the Dolphins in March, Jaylen Waddle was on the team and was expected to be the club’s leading receiver.

But that changed in a hurry, as days later, Miami traded Waddle to Denver for several draft picks.

How did Willis react to the news of the trade?

“It was unfortunate for sure, to say the least,” Willis told reporters in his Tuesday press conference, via transcript from the team. “That’s a really good player and I would have loved to play with him, but that’s above my pay grade, brother. Out of my hands.”

While Willis’ group of receivers is certainly different without Waddle, the quarterback is still establishing chemistry now during the later stages of the offseason program with players like Malik Washington and Jalen Tolbert.

“I think all of them have been doing a great job from top to bottom,” Willis said of Miami’s wideouts. “Everybody has the right mindset to come in and work and just do the best that they can to show what they can do.

“I feel like it’s an opportunity for all of us. It’s a bunch of new faces, whether it’s rookies or guys that have been here, but we’re all in front of new guys for the first time, and we got to try to continue to show what we can do.”

The Dolphins’ new brass made a statement by agreeing to terms with running back De’Von Achane on a four-year, $64 million contract extension last week.

General Manager Jon-Eric Sullivan and head coach Jeff Hafley had been consistent in saying that they wanted to keep Achane around on a new deal. But with new leadership, those kinds of plans are never set in stone until they’re actually complete.

In his Tuesday press conference at the start of OTAs, Hafley told reporters that he’s happy for Achane and was confident that the two sides would agree to terms.

“I think it sends a good message when you have a player who was here on his first contract, and has produced and had success, to reward that player with a second contract,” Hafley said. “I know that’s important to Sully and I.”

Achane, who led the league with 5.7 yards per carry in 2025, has been around the building throughout the offseason, Hafley said. The head coach has enjoyed the process of getting to know one of his key offensive players.

“It’s not like he just showed up after he signed his contract,” Hafley said. “So, excited that it’s done and he’ll be here going forward. He’s a great player and I’m really glad we have him.”

Achane finished 2025 with 1,350 rushing yards with eight touchdowns plus 67 receptions for 488 yards with four TDs.

The Commanders and Ravens are both set for joint practices with multiple teams this summer.

The Vikings announced that they will be working with the Ravens ahead of their preseason game in Minnesota on Monday and the Ravens announced that they’ll also be working out with the Commanders a short time later.

That session will take place at the Ravens’ facility on August 26. The two teams will wrap up the preseason with a game in Baltimore two days later.

While the Commanders will be making the short trip to work with the Ravens, they’ll be the hosts when the Dolphins come to town earlier in the month. Nicki Jhabvala of TheAthletic.com reported that they will practice with the Dolphins before their August 14 game.

Since the inauguration of the 47th president, the NFL has been engaged in a delicate dance regarding its diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. This week, one of the key aspects of the NFL’s efforts returns, with a twist.

As the league explained in March, the Accelerator program is back — and it’s open to everyone.

At the time, NFL senior V.P. and chief diversity and inclusion officer Jonathan Beane said that it’s “not us taking the direction of anyone on the outside” or a “reaction to D.C.”

The NFL canceled last year’s Accelerator program, prompting speculation that it was hoping to avoid scrutiny by the anti-DEI forces within the federal government.

According to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, 34 coaches and executives are scheduled to participate. They include Chargers offensive coordinator (and former Dolphins head coach) Mike McDaniel and current (and former) Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy.

Many of the other coaches on the list have had head-coaching interviews. Per Fowler, Rams offensive coordinator Nate Scheelhaase, Lions passing game coordinator (and former Giants interim head coach) Mike Kafka, Jaguars offensive coordinator Grant Udinski, Seahawks defensive coordinator Aden Durde, Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, Vikings quarterbacks coach Josh McCown, and Broncos special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi appear on the roster.

The list of executives set for the 2026 Accelerator program includes Terrance Gray (Bills), Nolan Teasley (Seahawks), John McKay (Rams), R.J. Gillen (49ers), Chad Alexander (Chargers), Glenn Cook and Catherine Hickman (Browns), Brandon Brown (Giants), Josh Williams (49ers), James Liipfert (Texans), Mike Bradway (Chiefs), Lance Newmark (Commanders), and Mike Greenberg (Buccaneers).

Although the federal government has yet to scrutinize the Accelerator program, it has become one of the issues in Florida’s ongoing attack against the NFL’s diversity initiatives. In a May 1, 2026, letter to Florida attorney general James Uthmeier, NFL general counsel Ted Ullyot wrote this: "[T]he Accelerator program is open to all individuals, regardless of race or sex. It provides an opportunity for prospective candidates for front office positions to participate in networking events, interview training, and facilitated development sessions.”

The dramatic change in the demographics of the Accelerator program will only reinforce the perception that the NFL is trying to avoid a late-night social-media storm of criticism regarding its commitment to diversity (along with the new kickoff formation). Regardless, after last year’s conspicuous cancellation, the Accelerator program is back. And it’s giving plenty of names already in the pipeline for one of the biggest jobs (coach and General Manager) access to the key decision makers and extra help to eventually secure one of those positions.