Finatik

The Dolphins hosted defensive end A.J. Epenesa on a free agent visit, according to the NFL’s transactions report on Thursday.

Epenesa agreed to terms with the Browns on a one-year deal worth up to $5 million last month. Epenesa failed his physical, though, and the Browns withdrew the contract.

It is unclear what injury caused the Browns concern.

He had a concussion, a pectoral injury, a foot injury and a neck injury last season. Epenesa still played 16 regular-season games in 2025, recording 32 tackles and 2.5 sacks.

He also played the divisional playoff game despite being listed on the injury report with a neck injury.

A second-round pick in 2020, Epenesa has spent his career with the Bills. He has appeared in 91 regular-season games, with 19 starts, and has totaled 24 sacks.

Dolphins running back De’Von Achane’s line in the sand has come with an olive branch.

Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that Achane has arrived for the team’s offseason workouts. He had missed the first week of the voluntary program.

Per Schefter, it “is believed” Achane reported “as a sign of good faith” as the team and Achane’s representation negotiate a new contract.

Achane would still be wise to be careful while working out. He has no financial security beyond 2026, the last year of his rookie deal.

The Dolphins have said Achane is not available in a trade. That doesn’t mean he’s untouchable; only a few players in the league would not be traded for any offer (e.g., Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen). It means the Dolphins haven’t gotten an offer they can’t refuse — and don’t expect to.

For Achane, the stakes are high. He has performed at a high level in the slotted, early years of his career. He has every right to seek an increase now, since the running back position has a shorter shelf life than the rest of the NFL’s positions.

Chiefs General Manager Brett Veach has the No. 9, No. 29 and No. 40 overall picks in the 2026 NFL draft, and he’s keeping a close eye on the offensive line prospects who might be available to him at those three picks.

Specifically, Veach thinks that by No. 40, he might not be able to draft an offensive lineman he likes.

“I think you’re gonna get a massive run of offensive linemen from 10 to 25,” Veach said. “Offensive line, there’s some talent there, but I do think it dries up quickly, and by 35, it could be slim pickings. . . . Maybe it extends to pick 35 or 40.”

Most observers agree that the top offensive line prospect, Miami tackle Francis Mauigoa, will be off the board within the Top 10 picks. Other likely first-round offensive linemen include Utah’s Spencer Fano, Georgia’s Monroe Freeling, Alabama’s Kadyn Proctor, Penn State’s Olaivavega Ioane, Clemson’s Blake Miller and Texas A&M’s Chase Bisontis.

The Dolphins brought in Malik Willis as a free agent last month and their new look at quarterback could also involve the addition of a rookie in next week’s draft.

A pair of possibilities visited with the team on Tuesday. Jordan Reid of ESPN.com reports that former Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels is meeting with the Dolphins while Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports former Iowa starter Mark Gronowski is in Miami as well.

Daniels also visited with the Patriots recently and is coming off of six years with the Jayhawks. He missed time with injuries over the course of that time, but started every game in his final two seasons. He threw for 4,985 yards, 36 touchdowns and 19 interceptions while running for 843 yards and 10 touchdowns the last two years.

Gronowski started 55 games at South Dakota State and won two straight FCS championship game MVP awards before transferring to Iowa last year. He completed 63.4 percent of his passes for 1,741 yards, 10 touchdowns and seven interceptions and added even more points to the offense by running for 16 touchdowns as a Hawkeye.

With just over a week left before this year’s draft, receiver Makai Lemon is spending time with an AFC East team on Monday.

Per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, Lemon is visiting with the Dolphins.

Lemon, who played his college ball at USC, has had several reported pre-draft visits, including the Chiefs, Jets, Giants, and Commanders.

The Dolphins currently have two first-round picks in this year’s draft at No. 11 and No. 30 overall.

Lemon won the Fred Biletnikoff award in 2025 as the most outstanding receiver in college football. He caught 79 passes for 1,156 yards with 11 touchdowns last season.

Free agent cornerback Jack Jones’ visit to the 49ers apparently went well.

Jones, 28, has agreed to terms with the team after his visit to San Francisco today, according to multiple reports.

He spent last season in Miami, starting all 17 games for the Dolphins and playing 980 defensive snaps. He totaled 77 tackles, an interception, six pass breakups and two forced fumbles.

The Patriots made Jones a fourth-round pick in 2022, and he moved on to the Raiders after New England waived him in November 2023.

He had 136 tackles, seven interceptions, four interception return touchdowns, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery before getting to Miami.

Jones has appeared in 59 games with 38 starts in his career.

All good. It's a slow time of year.

It’s a busy time for receiver KC Concepcion, who is expected to be one of the top wideouts to come off the board in this year’s draft.

Per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, Concepcion is taking a pre-draft visit with the Dolphins on Thursday.

Miami currently holds the No. 11 and No. 30 overall picks in the first round of the 2026 draft.

Concepcion was with the Browns on Wednesday.

While Concepcion recently underwent a procedure to have his knee scoped, he is expected to be ready for rookie minicamp.

In his one season with Texas A&M in 2025, Concepcion caught 61 passes for 919 yards with nine touchdowns. He previously spent two seasons with N.C. State, catching 71 passes for 839 yards with 10 touchdowns in 2023 and 53 passes for 460 yards with six TDs in 2024.

I don’t like that a guys reputation gets sullied on a bunch of maybe this maybe that. Maybe he deserves the benefit of the doubt without you all disparaging a mans reputation like it’s just nothing. Like it’s nothing.

And these are voluntary OTA's. Not mandatory to show up.

The Dolphins have parted ways with both of their top wide receivers from the 2025 season, so there’s a good chance they’ll be addressing the spot during the draft later this month.

One potential addition is set for a meeting with the team next week. Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports that Denzel Boston is due for a visit.

Boston has also spent time with the Steelers, Raiders, and Browns after catching 125 passes for 1,715 yards and 20 touchdowns at Washington over the last two seasons.

The Dolphins released Tyreek Hill and traded Jaylen Waddle to Denver for a package that included the 30th overall pick. They also own the 11th pick and have signed Jalen Tolbert and Tutu Atwell as free agents over the last few weeks.

The Dolphins opened up their offseason workout program on Tuesday and running back De’Von Achane was not in attendance.

Achane is eligible for a contract extension this offseason and Dolphins General Manager Jon-Eric Sullivan said last month that the team’s goal is to get something done with a player he called “a building block for us.” Achane’s absence from the start of voluntary work suggests that he’d like to see things wrapped up before he gets back to work and head coach Jeff Hafley declined to update where things stand on that front.

“Those are talks for another time between Achane, Sully and those guys,” Hafley said at a press conference. “I’m not going to dive into those talks right now. That’s part of the business, it’s part of what every team goes through in those situations and they’ll work it out.”

Achane led the league in yards per carry while running 238 times for 1,350 yards and eight touchdowns last season.

Per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, cornerback Mansoor Delane is taking a pre-draft visit with the Dolphins on Monday and Tuesday and the Giants on Wednesday and Thursday this week.

Delane ran a reported 4.38 40-yard dash during LSU’s Pro Day.

Delane began his collegiate career at Virginia Tech, playing for the program from 2022-2024. He transferred to LSU for his final season in 2025, recording a pair of interceptions with 11 passes defended for the Tigers.

As the 2026 NFL draft approaches, Miami offensive tackle Francis Mauigoa is separating himself from the pack as the consensus best offensive lineman available.

Mauigoa is a strong -235 betting favorite to be the first lineman drafted. The odds suggest Mauigoa probably won’t be drafted in the Top 5 picks (+175 odds) but almost certainly will be among the Top 10 picks (-370 odds).

The 6-foot-5, 329-pound Mauigoa is only 20 years old and can probably still get stronger and more athletic, but he’s already got NFL size, strength and quickness. Mauigoa was an All-American last season and won the Jacobs Blocking Trophy as the ACC’s best offensive lineman.

If Mauigoa isn’t the first offensive lineman drafted, the next-shortest odds go to Georgia tackle Monroe Freeling at +300, Utah tackle Spencer Fano at +600 and Alabama tackle Kadyn Proctor at +1700.

The Dolphins’ trade of wide receiver Jaylen Waddle to the Broncos was the team’s latest offseason move to elicit questions about their goals for the coming season.

Moving Waddle while parting ways with a slew of other veterans in moves that have left the team with significant dead cap money has led many to suggest that the Dolphins are looking at 2026 as a year to focus on building for the future while passing on doing all they can to compete in the present.

General Manager Jon-Eric Sullivan was asked about that perception during an appearance on PFT Live this week and Sullivan called it a “false” premise. While he acknowledged that he and head coach Jeff Hafley stepped into “a unique situation,” Sullivan insisted that the roster maneuvers are being done with an eye on trying to win right away.

“I have incredible faith in Jeff Hafley’s ability to lead,” Sullivan said. “I know that he and his staff will have this team ready to play and we’re going to show up and compete. Where it goes, it goes. We’ll build this thing out for the future, but we’re here to win now as well. Make no mistake about it.”

Sullivan noted that a lot of players on the Dolphins roster are on one-year deals, which does create a lot of motivation for players to put their best showings on tape. Whether players in that contractual position for a team coming off a poor season are the right ones to create a winner is a question that will be answered in the fall.

Since this is where were going to have a lot of discussion on in the next few weeks I stuck it to the top of the board.

Carson Beck and Ty Simpson are making some of the same stops as they make the pre-draft rounds of NFL teams.

NFL Media reports that Beck and Simpson are both slated for meetings with the Cardinals and Dolphins ahead of next month’s draft. Both quarterbacks have also spent time with the Jets already.

Simpson had a brief meeting with the Cardinals at the Combine as well and their head coach Mike LaFleur called him a “good dude and we’ll see where it goes.”

Beck has also met with the Steelers while Simpson has spent time with the Browns as he works to find a home in the NFL.

Edge rusher Rueben Bain won’t have to travel far for his next pre-draft visit with a team.

Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald reports that Bain will visit with the Dolphins on Tuesday. Bain played at the University of Miami and went to Miami Central High School, so the meeting is of particular interest to him.

“That’s the hometown team,” Bain said. “So I’ll get to experience that. I’ve been going to that stadium all my life.”

Bain has faced questions about his arm length, but he had 20.5 sacks for the Hurricanes the last three seasons and his pass rushing prowess has led to many predictions that he’ll be one of the first players off the board next month. The Dolphins currently have the 11th and 30th picks in the first round.

For those who believe the Dolphins are tanking in 2026, one trend contradicts that conclusion: They’re kicking as much cap space as they can into future years.

Case in point, and as first noted by Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald: The Dolphins recently restructured the contracts of running back De’Von Achane and center Aaron Brewer, lowering their cap charges for the current year.

Achane is in the last year of his rookie contract, at a salary of $5.7 million. Via Spotrac.com, Miami added four void years to the deal, allowing the bulk of the contract to be paid as a signing bonus and pushing $3.6 million into future years.

As to Brewer’s deal, the Dolphins converted $5.25 million into a signing bonus, creating $4.2 million in cap space.

That said, the can-kicking was more necessity than luxury. Cutting Tua Tagovailoa will result in $99.2 million in dead-money charges over the next two years. For that and other reasons, the Dolphins are currently in the worst shape of all 32 franchises, as it relates to the 2026 cap.

The recent trade of receiver Jaylen Waddle added to that burden, given that pre-June 1 trades trigger full acceleration of all prorated guaranteed payments.

As to Achane, who is now on the books for the minimum salary of $1.145 million, it makes the price for any potential trade more expensive for his new team, since Miami has already paid the bulk of Achane’s 2026 pay. (And, yes, the team has gotten the word out that Achane is “not available.” As recently explained, however, he’s surely not among the handful of truly untradeable NFL players.)

The bottom line is that the new regime in Miami inherited a mess. Both as to the roster and as to the cap. The only good news is that these dynamics push the bar even lower for the Dolphins in 2026. Neither G.M. Jon-Eric Sullivan nor coach Jeff Hafley will be facing serious scrutiny regarding the performance of the team until 2027.

And if the Dolphins somehow contend for a playoff berth this year, they’ll both be regarded as heroes.

The Dolphins have added a new long snapper to their roster.

They announced the signing of Taybor Pepper on Thursday. It will be Pepper’s second stint with the team as he was also in Miami during the 2019 season.

Pepper moved on to the 49ers the next year and remained with the team until being released last March. He did not play for anyone during the 2025 season.

Pepper also played in four games for the Packers in 2017 and he has been credited with two tackles over the course of his career.

The Dolphins also signed Tucker Addington this month, so they have a pair of long snappers to evaluate heading into head coach Jeff Hafley’s first season.