If comments made by Dolphins staffers are any indication, fantasy coaches are going to want to keep an eye on Miami’s Greg Dulcich as they seek to fill the challenging tight end slot. GM Jon-Eric Sullivan recently identified Dulcich as the returning player he is most excited to see take a step forward in 2026, and TEs coach Rob Middleton also praised Dulcich during OTAs last week.
“He’s a talented, talented guy,” Middleton said of Dulcich (via Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald). “The sky is the limit for the kid.”
The Dolphins had a large class (30 players) of their own free agents this offseason. While the club’s cap situation was a challenge in talent retention, Jackson says Dulcich was the one incumbent FA the ‘Fins seemed to prioritize over all the others. They re-upped the 26-year-old on a one-year, $3.25MM pact, most of which is guaranteed.
A former third-round pick of the Broncos, Dulcich joined the Giants via waiver claim in 2024. New York cut him last August, and he subsequently joined Miami’s practice squad. He was promoted to the active roster in late October as the corresponding move when fellow tight end Darren Waller was placed on injured reserve.
In 10 games (three starts) in 2025, Dulcich posted 26 catches for 335 yards and a touchdown, and he continued to have a role in the offense even after Waller returned from IR. The Dolphins did draft two TEs this year, adding Will Kacmarek in the third round and Seydou Traore in the fifth. Given his usage in college, however, Kacmarek is likely to make more of an impact as a blocker than receiver in the early stages of his pro career, while Traore is a talented but raw prospect who began playing football later in life than most of his fellow draftees (as C. Isaiah Smalls II of the Miami Herald details, Traore is the first graduate of the United Kingdom’s iteration of the NFL Academy to be drafted).
As such, Dulcich should have a golden opportunity to establish himself as a starting-caliber TE in 2026. He will represent one of new quarterback Malik Willis’ top options in a passing game that features a number of Day 2 and Day 3 rookies – along with veteran rebound hopefuls Tutu Atwell and Jalen Tolbert – and that is now without the high-profile duo of Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle.
Another player who showed promise for a mostly-disappointing Dolphins team in 2025 was kicker Riley Patterson, who converted 27 of 29 field goals and 34 of 35 extra points. His performance convinced Miami to bring him back, albeit on a veteran salary benefit deal worth just $1.4MM. That modest pact was not a barrier to signing Zane Gonzalez, who will now compete with Patterson for the PK job.
As Jackson writes in the piece linked above, Patterson did not object to the Gonzalez acquisition.
“Riley doesn’t mind,” special teams coach Chris Tabor said. “Obviously he had a great year, and he’s a really good player, as is [Gonzalez]. But if you looked at both of their careers, they’ve competed against a lot of guys all the time, so I think that’s nothing new. Any competitor will say, ‘if I’m in a competition, I play better.'”
Tabor, another new addition to the Dolphins’ coaching staff, worked with Gonzalez in Cleveland. Although Tabor says Gonzalez’s stance and approach have changed since their days with the Browns, it is fair to wonder if that familiarity will give Gonzalez an edge in his battle with Patterson.
Giants (Schoen?) were stupid to cut him…