Dolphins Release LS Taybor Pepper, Waive P Seth Vernon

An eight-year veteran long snapper, Taybor Pepper signed with the Dolphins in March. But his tenure with the team will be short-lived. The Dolphins released Pepper on Monday.

Miami also waived punter Seth Vernon, cornerback Isaiah Johnson, tight end Zack Kuntz, cornerback Jason Maitre, edge rusher Derrick McLendon and linebacker K.C. Ossai. The Pepper and Vernon moves provide some early clarity among Miami’s special teams units. Johnson, who played in four Dolphins games last season, was waived with a failed physical designation, KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson tweets.

The team gave Pepper a $1.3MM deal with no guarantees in mid-March. Pepper, 31, had not played in a regular-season game since the 2024 season. The longtime 49ers long snapper lost his Bay Area job to former Texans mainstay Jon Weeks in March 2025. Miami’s move clears the way for Tucker Addington, who snapped for the team in three 2024 games, to hold the job. Though, we are four months away from the season.

Addington, 28, has only snapped in 10 career games. Pepper is at 100, serving as the 49ers’ LS from 2020-24. Pepper also snapped in every Dolphins game in 2019.

It is unusual for a team to nix a competition so early in offseason workouts, but it is possible the Dolphins bring in another snapper to compete with Addington. Miami used Joe Cardona as its long snapper in 2025, but he committed to the Rams on Day 1 of free agency. The Steelers waived Addington last August; he did not snap in 2025. Cardona, an 11-year veteran, signed a two-year Rams deal that included $2.1MM guaranteed.

The Dolphins signed veteran Bradley Pinion to be their punter in mid-March, giving him a one-year deal that included $1.26MM fully guaranteed. Vernon entered the league as a Falcons UDFA in 2022 but did not unseat Pinion for the Falcons job that offseason. His pro game action has come in the UFL; the Michigan Panthers used Vernon as their punter in 2025.