Opinion: Dolphins Should Target Karlos Williams
- After Arian Foster‘s surprising retirement, Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald suggests the Dolphins should pursue Karlos Williams. The troubled tailback recently hooked on with Pittsburgh’s practice squad and while he has issues, he can be a very effective tailback as evidenced by his 517 yards and seven touchdowns off of 93 carries last year. Miami scheduled a visit with Williams earlier this month but that trip was cancelled once he signed elsewhere.
Dolphins Cut DT Julius Warmsley
- The Dolphins cut defensive tackle Julius Warmsley today, as Adam H. Beasley of the Miami Herald writes. Warmsley has been inactive for the last two weeks. In total, he appeared in five games for Miami this year and recorded eight tackles.
Dolphins Audition Brandian Ross
- Defensive back Brandian Ross was part of the safety cadre worked out by the Dolphins today before the club signed Bacarri Rambo, according to Adam Caplan of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
Dolphins Place Arian Foster On Retired List
- The Dolphins officially placed running back Arian Foster on the reserve/retired list, tweets Adam Caplan of ESPN.com. Foster announced yesterday that he was hanging up his cleats.
Dolphins To Sign Bacarri Rambo
The Dolphins are signing safety Bacarri Rambo, a source tells Mike Garafolo of NFL.com (Twitter link). Miami worked out a group of safeties earlier today, including veteran James Ihedigbo, Major Wright, and Sergio Brown, but Rambo will be the defensive back putting pen to paper.
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Rambo, 26, appeared in 15 games (eight starts) for the Bills last season, but wasn’t tendered as a restricted free agent once the year concluded. A 2013 sixth-round pick, Rambo began his career with Washington, playing 13 games for the Redskins over one-plus years before signing on with Buffalo midway through the 2014 campaign. All told, Rambo has posted 77 tackles and three interceptions during his three-year career.
The Dolphins had been on the lookout for defensive back help since losing safety Reshad Jones for the season last week. Rambo will join Michael Thomas and Walt Aikens as Miami’s options to play opposite Isa Abdul-Quddus.
Dolphins Down On Jordan Phillips?
- Is defensive tackle Jordan Phillips falling out of favor with the Dolphins? Defensive coordinator Vance Joseph ripped into the 2015 second-round pick this week. “The bottom line is Jordan has got to play better overall,” Joseph said (via Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald). “Out of 35 plays, Jordan is playing a solid 25 plays very solidly. He’s having four or five plays where it’s not very good. I think Ndamukong Suh is playing well. “I think Suh gets doubled a lot, but I think Jordan could play better. Obviously, getting Earl Mitchell back in a couple weeks, that’s going to help us there. Losing Earl was a big deal for us inside, because now you’ve got probably three inside starters. Getting Earl back in two weeks, that’s going to help us a lot.”
Dolphins Working Out Safeties
The Dolphins are auditioning a group of safeties today, according to Adam Caplan of ESPN.com (on Twitter). That bunch includes James Ihedigbo, Major Wright, and Sergio Brown. 
After starting 21 games for the Lions over the past two seasons, safety James Ihedigbo has been unable to find work this season. In fact, today’s workout with Miami marks his first known free agent visit of the year. At the age of 32, it seems that Ihedigbo’s stock has gone down. Last year, his production slipped and he lost his starting job to Isa Abdul-Quddus later on in the year. The veteran finished out 2015 as Pro Football Focus’ No. 64 ranked safety out of 69 qualifiers. At the same time, 2014 was Ihedigbo’s best NFL season and it seems possible that he could get back to his old form just two years later.
Wright was cut by the Bucs in late August and we haven’t heard his name mentioned since he worked out for the Panthers days later. Brown, meanwhile, was cut by the Falcons around the same time. The safety played in at least ten games in each of his six seasons and is actually coming off of one of his best seasons. In 2015 with the Jaguars, Brown racked up 38 tackles and 1.5 sacks.
The Dolphins have been thinned out at safety after losing star Reshad Jones for the season.
Arian Foster Retires
In surprising news, Dolphins running back Arian Foster has announced his retirement (Twitter link via Uninterrupted).
“There comes a time in every athlete’s career when their ambition and their body are no longer on the same page. I’ve reached that point,” Foster revealed in a written statement. “My father always said, “You’ll know when it’s time to walk away.” It has never been more clear than right now. I’m walking away with peace. I know it’s not commonplace to do it midseason, but my body just can’t take the punishment this game asks for any longer. I want to thank the Miami Dolphins, with everything in me, for allowing me to bow out with grace and making this process as easy as possible.”
Unfortunately, as Foster alluded to, injuries derailed the four-time Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro toward the tail end of his career. The 30-year-old suffered a torn Achilles last October, and that ultimately ended his seven-year tenure in Houston. The Texans elected in March to release Foster, who inked a one-year, $1.5MM deal with the Dolphins in July.
A groin injury limited Foster in Miami, where he picked up only 22 carries for 55 yards in four appearances. Most of those attempts (13) and yards (38) came in Week 1. In the final game of his career, Foster rushed three times for 5 yards in the Dolphins’ 28-25 win over the Bills on Sunday.
Although Foster was a shadow of his previous self over the past two seasons, he’ll go down as one of the greatest undrafted players in NFL history. The former Tennessee Volunteer burst on the scene in 2010, his second season, to lead the league in ground yards (1,616), rushing touchdowns (16) and yards from scrimmage (2,220). That was the first of four seasons with at least 1,200 rushing yards for Foster, who may have also eclipsed the mark in 2013 if not for a back issue that kept him out of eight games. All told, Foster tallied 6,527 yards (4.4 YPC) and 54 TDs as a rusher. He also proved himself as a serious pass-catching threat by hauling in 255 receptions and another 14 scores.
In the wake of Foster’s exit, the 3-4 Dolphins will go forward with breakout second-year man Jay Ajayi, Kenyan Drake and Damien Williams as their main backfield options. Ajayi has rushed for 200-plus yards in back-to-back games, making him only the fourth player in league history to accomplish that feat.
Richie Incognito On Bullygate
- With the Bills’ Richie Incognito preparing to face his former team, the Dolphins, this week, the guard revisited the 2013 Bullygate scandal in Miami that led to a three-month suspension and left him unemployed for a year and a half. “I’m still searching for the lesson in all of it,” Incognito told Omar Kelly of the Sun Sentinel. League investigator Ted Wells concluded Incognito subjected then-teammate Jonathan Martin to “a pattern of harassment” that included racial slurs. “Jonathan and I were close friends. I cared about him,” Incognito said of Martin. “If anybody was there for Jonathan it was me.” Martin left the Dolphins amid the scandal in 2013 and spent parts of the next two seasons with the 49ers and Panthers. He’s now retired. Incognito has since held his own in Buffalo, which signed him to a one-year contract in February 2015. He went to his second Pro Bowl last season and subsequently re-signed with the Bills on a three-year, $15.75MM deal with $5.4MM in guarantees. “I can sleep good at night knowing what happened and what my actions were. I’m not saying I was a saint. But I sleep well at night knowing what I did,” added Incognito, who maintains that Martin and his camp concocted a false narrative.
Dolphins Claim Nick Williams From Chiefs
The Dolphins have claimed defensive end Nick Williams off waivers from the Chiefs and placed safety Reshad Jones on injured reserve, per an announcement from Miami.
The 26-year-old Williams had a brief unemployed stint after Kansas City cut him Tuesday. Williams had appeared in each of the Chiefs’ five games this year prior to his ouster, but he only participated in 11.9 percent of their defensive snaps. Since entering the NFL as a seventh-round pick of the Steelers in 2013, Williams has amassed 21 appearances – all with the Chiefs.
Williams will likely try to catch on at defensive tackle with the Dolphins, according to Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald (Twitter link). The Dolphins have relied heavily this year on Ndamukong Suh and Jordan Phillips along the interior, while Chris Jones and Julius Warmsley have combined for roughly 90 snaps apiece as depth options.
The placement of Jones on IR was expected after Salguero reported earlier Tuesday that Miami would shut him down for the season. Jones, one of the Dolphins’ premier players, suffered a torn rotator cuff in their 30-15 upset over the Steelers last Sunday.