The Miami Dolphins added eight more players to their practice squad Tuesday, and the group brings a mix of draft pedigree, special teams mileage and a little bit of familiar coaching history.
The headliner is defensive tackle Mazi Smith, a former first-round pick who arrived in the NFL with plenty of expectations after the Dallas Cowboys took him 27th overall in the 2023 draft out of Michigan. Smith, who was a college teammate of Kenneth Grant, has yet to fully find his footing as a pro. He has 31 tackles and two sacks in three seasons split between the Cowboys and Jets, with the New York stop coming after he was part of the trade that sent Quinn Williams to Dallas last year.
Miami also brought in edge rusher Amari Gainer, who has the most NFL game experience among the Tuesday additions behind Smith. Gainer appeared in all 17 games for the Raiders as a rookie free agent in 2024, but his role was mostly on special teams.
Of his 392 snaps that season, all but 12 came there. After the Raiders cut him, he spent time bouncing between the Raiders and Patriots practice squads in 2025.
Inside linebacker Liam Anderson joins the group after four NFL appearances with the Colts from 2023-24. The Holy Cross product was undrafted and played 48 total snaps in those games, all on special teams.
Cornerback Jaylin Simpson is another name with some league familiarity. He was a fifth-round pick of the Colts in 2024, spent his rookie season on the practice squad, and then landed with the Packers last year. He’s one of two players in this batch who was with Green Bay when Jon-Eric Sullivan and Jeff Hafley were there.
Wide receiver Will Sheppard is the other former Packer in the group, though he has yet to make his NFL regular-season debut. Green Bay signed him as a rookie free agent in 2025.
The Dolphins also added defensive lineman Jordan Miller, who spent the last two seasons on Denver’s practice squad after joining the Broncos as a rookie free agent in 2024. Miller played his college ball at the University of Miami before finishing at SMU.
Miami’s Tuesday moves also included edge rusher Clelin Ferrell, who already has a known background with the team after spending training camp in Miami, along with defensive lineman Mazi Smith, tight end Tre Watson and the rest of the new additions. The team released quarterback Mark Gronowski from the practice squad one day after claiming Brady Cook off waivers from the New York Jets.
These eight players will be added to the Dolphins’ practice squad alongside the group signed Monday, a class made up entirely of Miami’s own roster cuts. Notably, the Dolphins did not bring back any of the players they waived Monday to make room for their waiver claims, a list that included cornerback Ethan Bonner, tackle Marques Cox, wide receiver AJ Henning, edge rusher Max Llewellyn and guard/tackle Josh Priebe. It remains possible those players simply chose to look elsewhere.
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