Both Preston Williams and Lynn Bowden came up in recent trade rumors, but no deals emerged. Instead, each young wide receiver is now on the waiver wire.
The Dolphins cut both on Tuesday, per ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter and NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero (Twitter links). Miami’s trade inquiries did not fall entirely on deaf ears, at least in Williams’ case. Multiple teams reached out about the former UDFA, Pelissero adds. But he can now be acquired via waiver claim.
One year remains on Williams’ contract, while Bowden’s rookie deal has two years left. Williams, whose NFL path has been a bit complicated based on his rookie-year offseason, has two years left on his initial NFL deal.
The Raiders drafted Bowden in the 2020 third round but traded him to the Dolphins before he played a down in Las Vegas. The gadget-type weapon was one of many 2020 Raider draftees not to be long for the organization. He caught 28 passes for 211 yards for the Dolphins as a rookie but did not play in 2021.
Williams emerged as a quick study in 2019, when he caught 32 passes for 428 yards in just eight games. That Dolphins team was light at receiver alongside DeVante Parker, but it became even lighter when Williams suffered a torn ACL. Williams has never seen his value restored since that injury, and the Lisfranc problem he encountered in 2020 compounded his health issues. Over the past two seasons, Williams has not matched his rookie-year yardage total.
The Dolphins, who nontendered Williams as an RFA this year before re-signing him at a reduced rate, also added some talent at receiver (Tyreek Hill, Cedrick Wilson Jr.) this offseason.
Bowden to NE. Let’s do the thing.
Perhaps no team makes less sense to have him than the Dolphins, but I’m curious to see what Bowden could do with a healthy season and a gadget role carved out for him.
I’d love to see what Bowden could do in Kyle Shannahan’s offense. Whether it is crossing, go, or slant routes from the slot, or lined up outside taking screen passes, designed running plays by making quick forward passes, and/or running reverses Bowden could be nasty.
That is especially if Kyle might use him like a RB/WR like Deebo, he could definitely get alot of yards out of Bowden running misdirection plays, screen passes, running curl and/or Texas routes from the backfield, or simply just using Bowden as a traditional RB in his outside zone scheme…
Heck, he could even draw up some trick plays with Bowden having experience playing QB for Kentucky…I could certainly see him in the mold of Antwan Randle-El, and really making a name for hisself, but he needs a coach that’s going to tap into his versatility, use his strengths to their advantage, and one that isn’t afraid to move a versatile weapon like him around and in a myriad of ways..