The Dolphins are continuing to reshape their roster by releasing more veteran players. According to Tom Pelissero of NFL Media, Miami is releasing guard James Daniels and receiver Nick Westbrook-Ikhine. Daniels, 28, played just three snaps in 2025 after signing a three-year deal with the Dolphins in free agency. He suffered a pectoral injury in the season opener and spent the rest of the season on injured reserve. Releasing Daniels will save the Dolphins $6.5 million against the cap in 2027. Westbrook-Ikhine signed a two-year deal with Miami last offseason. He appeared in 15 games with three starts, catching 11 passes for 89 yards. His release will save Miami $1.5 million against the cap in 2026.
We're going to see a lot more of these releases in the coming weeks. With Chubb and Hill also set to be released, it appears that Dolphins are whittling away at the old and nonproductive to rebuild from the ground up.
Jack Daniels was such a waste on this roster. Knew from the beginning he was going to be a non factor. Dudes on here calling him a mauler of a lineman. Definitely one of Grier's worst singings of all time.
Well you might need to start drinking it if you want to block out the impending $hitfest this coming season is going to be.
It's only going to be a sh1tfest this season if you're expecting the Dolphins to have a playoff season. We should all be expecting the 2026 Miami Dolphins season to be an audition if you will...who is going to be here in 2027 to take the team back to greatness. what we should be expecting the next few years is this: 2026: Who do we have and who can actually play? 4 win season 2027: Is what we're doing working and what needs to be tweeked? 6-8 win season 2028: Need to actually be able to compete and play dominantly! 11-12 win season 2029: Deep playoff run If anyone is expecting MORE than that in that timeline, you're going to be disappointed
I won't say that I'm expecting a different timeline, but at the same time I don't see the doom and gloom that others are expecting. Why? Our defense was devoid of talent last season as no-name starting corners got hurt and even more no-name backups tried to figure out the secondary. We were the laughing-stock of the league the first 6-8 weeks, but eventually Miami figured some things out and all those no-namers began to produce. We aren't cutting any of them because they're not making much to begin with, so we're returning our complete secondary. Now, we are losing some pass rushers up front, but the defensive line needs some transformation and I think we do that through the draft. So for defense, my prime concern is philosophy and scheme...not splash signings. On offense, we have a good run game and most of those pieces should stay intact. However, we don't have a QB or a WR1, and my guess is that we trade Waddle. So be it. I think we get back to blue-collar, no frills receivers that offer long-term production and there are plenty to be had. The actual scheme should stay similar to what we've been doing, so I think that gives our young QB the temporary nod (unless Tua actually competes for the job). I think we're going to cut Tua though and absorb the entire cap this season. What are we really losing though? Most of the money is Tua + Tyreek, neither of which would have started week 1 and possibly at all in 2026/2027. Waddle will be missed to some extent, but he did little last year without Tyreek on the field drawing all the attention away from him. Chubb will be missed but he's replaceable. There just aren't any names that decimate this team- I'd argue that Van Ginkel was a bigger loss a few seasons ago that anyone today. I don't think we'll be a great team out of the gate, but there's no reason to expect that we can't be competitive. Ewers (or whoever the starter is) will be the biggest factor outside of Achane and the run game. If we can continue to run well though, the play action will be there for any QB. And I feel the same way about the defense- we have a decent base to start from. Six years ago, we gutted the team. Today, we're getting rid of a handful of overpaid players. It's a different type of rebuild and I don't think the same long-term suffering has to be involved...especially if Achane remains a Dolphin.
I'm actually excited about the season. I think we're going to see our guys play with an actual heartbeat. The further we can distant ourselves from awarding team captain nominations to Tyreek Hill after beating the crap out of his wife, the better. Moving on from the room temperature IQ of Tua Tagovailoa and his apathetic play would be....Well...To quote him..."That'd be dope!" So yeah, I think we're going to be bad, but at the very least I think these guys will play with some heart. You build off that and eventually it turns into winning with the right players at key positions.
I’m not expecting doom and gloom per se but I am expecting the growing pains that are going to come from a new regime. I’m just hopeful with the Green Bay way, it’ll bring a much needed culture change transforming us from speed and finesse to hard core smash mouth football. I just hope that as the 2026 season goes on, the players and the schemes start to meld and things start falling into place.
Fix the OL, allow the qb time to find the open man. Ewers can be fine in this role. We may not be a top half scoring offense but we'll be able to move the ball and control the clock. You can win games this way. The rest of the picks should all go to the defense. Edge, corner and safety. Trade Waddle and Fitzpatrick. Get as many picks as possible to fill the very many gaps we have. Using the middle rounds to find value receivers and tight ends and the team will be set up for something earlier than expected.
