Blake Ferguson‘s five-year tenure in Miami has come to an end. The veteran long snapper was released by the Dolphins on Thursday, per a team announcement. 
Ferguson took over deep snapping duties in 2020, his rookie campaign. The former sixth-rounder remained in that role throughout his rookie contract, and he landed a three-year extension in 2023. Ferguson did not miss a contest during his first four seasons in the league, but in 2024 he was limited to only five games.
The 28-year-old spent much of the campaign on the reserve/non-football injury list but the reason why remains unclear. In Ferguson’s absence, the Dolphins relied on a number of replacements during the season. None of Zach Triner, Matt Overton or Jake McQuaide are under contract at this point, but that could soon change given the decision to move on from Ferguson. Two years remained on the latter’s deal.
None of Ferguson’s base salaries for 2025 or ’26 were guaranteed, however. As a result, this release will yield $1.17MM in cap savings without generating a dead money charge. It will be interesting to see if Ferguson will draw interest from other teams once his health issue is resolved. In the meantime, the Dolphins will move in a different direction at the position.
The Dolphins also announced that three players have been waived from their offseason roster. Defensive tackle Neil Farrell – who made seven appearances with Miami last year and signed a futures deal in January – is among them. In addition, cornerback Ryan Cooper Jr. (who was claimed off waivers in February) and offensive lineman Chasen Hines have been let go. If any member of the trio is claimed off waivers, they will immediately join a new team in advance of minicamps. Otherwise, they will join Ferguson in free agency.
One of his buddies comes over to console him, he tosses him a beer from 15 yards away.
It always amazes me that teams dedicate a roster spot to somebody to be the LS. Why not have the backup C do it and carry somebody with more versatility?
Even regular snapping is hard to do well consistently. A lot of guards don’t work at center for that reason. Not every team even has a backup center they feel *good* about snapping to the quarterback.
Long snaps that go wrong are very likely to be huge negative plays, especially on punt attempts. Even the teams that punt the least in football do it more than 40 times a year. A punt snap gone haywire can really mess up a game.
It’s also not an expensive roster spot. Even the best ones only get a couple million guaranteed.
I’m not talking about a G
I’m not asking somebody who doesn’t practice it during the week.
Teams have players practice at two different positions all the time look no further than every other guy on special teams besides the kicker/punter.
If a kicker or a punter has to leave a game they typically have somebody else who has taken reps during the week. It’s not like I’m suggesting they become fluent in Japanese.
The backup center is usually a guard, and they don’t necessarily get much time snapping during the week, and they’re likely not very good at it. Just like when a team loses a kicker or punter during a game, the emergency replacement is either the other kicking specialist or someone who isn’t very good at it. It’s worth carrying a specialist you’re likely to need half a dozen times a game when the price of the player is low and the cost of having someone incompetent is high.
Bill Belichick has a youtube video explaining why.
Mentioning Belichick is like a matador taunting a bull (named arty!) with a red cape…be careful 🙂
Two weeks and still no list of UDFA for the Dolphins. Love the app and prefer the articles on here to other sites. Please give us the list 🙏
Plenty of information elsewhere on internet
Miami Dolphins
B.J. Adams, DB, Central Florida
Andrew Armstrong, WR, Arkansas
Eugene Asante, LB, Auburn
Monaray Baldwin, WR, Baylor
Jalin Conyers, TE, Texas Tech
A.J. Henning, WR, Northwestern
Kneeland Hibbert, LS, Alabama
Alex Huntley, DL, South Carolina
Ted Kushi, OL, Western Michigan
Nate Noel, RB, Missouri
Josh Priebe, OL, Michigan
Ethan Robinson, DB, Minnesota
John Saunders, DB, Ole Miss
Theo Wease, WR, Missouri
Addison West, OL, Western Michigan
Thank you. I’ve already looked at the list elsewhere. I appreciate the insightfulness by TR though!