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Dolphins make change at kicker, waive cornerback Storm Duck amid series of roster moves
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- Dolphins make change at kicker, waive cornerback Storm Duck amid series of roster moves
The Miami Dolphins are making a change at kicker after the bye week.
The Dolphins released Riley Patterson, the team announced, while signing back Zane Gonzalez to the practice squad on Tuesday.
Miami also waived cornerback Storm Duck and edge defender Andre Jones Jr. and signed edge defender Rodney McGraw to the active roster from the practice squad.
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Patterson struggled through five games, missing two field goals and an extra point. In the Dolphins' Oct. 11 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals , he was at fault for not executing Miami's kickoff strategies after surrendering an 81-yard return on the opening kickoff.
"We did try to kick them out of the end zone; that was discussed and just not executed the way that we wanted it to be," Dolphins coach Jeff Hafley revealed Monday . "On the ensuing kickoffs, yeah, several of them were supposed to be touchbacks and weren't.
"Now, fortunately, we covered a bunch of those kicks better than we did on the first time. And yeah, they had a nice return on the big return; obviously, we didn't execute it very well. So, I would say it's a combination of lack of execution on the big one. Good execution on their part, I don't want to take that away from them."
Gonzalez and Patterson were in a training camp competition for the starting kicker role. Gonzalez was actually ahead of Patterson through two weeks of camp, but he suffered an undisclosed injury, essentially winning Patterson the job by default.
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Now, Gonzalez returns to the Dolphins and is back with special teams coordinator Chris Tabor, whom he's worked under at previous stops with the Cleveland Browns, where he was drafted in 2017, and Carolina Panthers.
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Gonzalez being signed to the practice squad avoids using a 53-man roster spot for him, and he can still be elevated three times to the active roster for coming games.
Duck was let go after first making the team as an undrafted rookie in 2024 but having two injury-plagued seasons to follow.
He started training camp on the physically-unable-to-perform list and had a 21-day practice window opened Sept. 30. The Dolphins faced a midweek deadline to activate him off the PUP list and opted against it.
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McGraw, an undrafted rookie out of Western Michigan, finds his way to the active roster after being elevated in Miami's past two games, impressing over 26 defensive snaps and 27 special teams plays.
Jones, who was signed earlier this season off the Buffalo Bills practice squad, became the roster casualty to make room for McGraw.
The Dolphins return from the bye at 0-5 and visit the New York Jets (2-4).
