Mark Gronowski’s first NFL summer has turned into a constant game of musical chairs, and once again the former Hawkeye is the one left standing on the edge.
The Miami Dolphins waived Gronowski for the second time as the league’s 53-man roster cut-downs hit, according to ESPN’s Mike Garafolo. Miami still wants to keep him in the mix, though: if he clears waivers, the plan is to bring him back on the practice squad.
“The #Dolphins are waiving QB Mark Gronowski but will bring him back to the practice squad if he clears waivers.
That leaves Malik Willis as the only QB on the roster as of now. pic.twitter.com/stmUkbY0t7
- Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) August 30, 2026”
Gronowski entered the league as an undrafted free agent after the 2026 NFL Draft and drew plenty of attention before signing with Miami. The fit never really settled in. He reportedly struggled through the summer, got waived before the Dolphins’ first preseason game, then rejoined the team after that opener only to wind up back on the roster bubble again.
Miami’s quarterback room has been in flux for weeks. The team moved on from Tua Tagovailoa after the season, taking on a $99.2 million dead cap hit to do it. Tagovailoa had been benched for the final three games of the 2025-2026 season, and the Dolphins followed by signing former Green Bay Packers backup Malik Willis to a three-year contract as their stopgap starter.
With Willis in place, Miami kept cycling through options behind him. Quinn Ewers, Cam Miller and Gronowski all battled for the backup job, and both Gronowski and Miller were waived and re-signed before ending up out again.
Before cutting Gronowski this time, the Dolphins traded Ewers to the Jacksonville Jaguars and sent a 2028 sixth-round pick to the Green Bay Packers for quarterback Kyle McCord. McCord is now essentially set as the backup for the 2026-2027 season unless Miami makes another move, leaving Willis as the only quarterback currently on the roster.
Gronowski was always a long shot to make an NFL roster after going undrafted, but Miami’s handling of the situation leaves him with a choice now. He can look elsewhere and see if another team offers a clearer path, or he can wait and see whether the Dolphins bring him back again. Gronowski has said he developed a good relationship with the organization, so a third stint in Miami is still very much on the table if nothing else materializes.
Either way, this doesn’t look like the end of his NFL story. It just looks like another sharp turn in a summer that has already had plenty of them.
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The appeal for Iowa goes beyond the box score. These are the kinds of performances that keep the recruiting classes feeling alive long after the commitments are made, especially when players are producing in different roles and different systems. For Hawkeyes fans, it is another reminder that the programs future is still being written on high school fields around the country, one game at a time. [Read more 🡒]