The Miami Dolphins’ lack of edge-rush depth was already a problem. Derek Barnett landing with the Cleveland Browns just made the pool a little thinner.
Cleveland signed the former first-round pick on Sunday to a one-year deal worth up to $5.5 million, and the move came after the Browns lost defensive end Alex Wright for the season with a ruptured Achilles. Barnett wasn’t tied to Miami, at least not publicly, and the price tag alone suggests the Dolphins probably weren’t planning to jump in.
That fits the way general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan has operated this offseason. Miami still has approximately $16 million in cap space, but Sullivan has been clear that he isn’t interested in handing out major money to players who don’t fit the long-term picture. And at this point, none of the edge rushers still sitting out there would qualify as that kind of investment.
The Dolphins still need bodies, though. Chop Robinson and Josh Uche have settled in as the starters for 2025, but the situation behind them is shaky enough that most of those options would be battling just to make the roster on a typical NFL team, let alone serve as reliable depth.
Miami did add former first-round pick Clelin Ferrell at the end of July, but head coach Jeff Hafley soon said Ferrell would miss multiple weeks because of an undisclosed injury. David Ojabo got his shot against the Giants and didn’t seize it, which is why he ended up on the wrong side of our winners/losers breakdown.
The Dolphins’ second preseason game only reinforced the bigger issue: this team has almost no cushion behind its starters. That’s true in several spots, but cornerback, wide receiver and edge rusher stand out the most.
Wide receiver at least offers some encouragement. Miami’s rookie class has created some real long-term optimism, Caleb Douglas has been one of the offseason standouts, Chris Bell is back sooner than expected from an ACL injury, and Kevin Coleman Jr. was one of the few bright spots in the loss to the New York Giants.
Cornerback remains a work in progress and probably will all season. Sullivan has shown he’s willing to keep turning over the back end of the roster until he likes what he sees, even claiming a cornerback during halftime at Hard Rock Stadium.
Edge rusher is trickier. If the Dolphins take Sullivan at his word, they’ll probably keep digging through the waiver wire and other cut-down options to add help across the roster, with pass rush included. Miami is expected to be active there, and the team could look very different in a couple of weeks.
Still, even with pass rushers easier to find than quarterbacks or offensive tackles, it’s not exactly an easy fix. That’s why it still counts as a premium spot. If the waiver claims don’t break Miami’s way and the post-cut market doesn’t offer anything worth taking, Sullivan may have no choice but to live with what he has.
In the end, the Dolphins just need enough on the edges to survive the season with a complementary pass rush.
In Other News...
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Hafleys tone suggested the final evaluation process is going to be as much about subtraction as addition, with plenty of players who got meaningful snaps now headed toward an uncertain end after the preseason finale. For a team still sorting through the edges of the roster, the issue is not just who played well enough to stick, but who avoided the kind of mistakes that turn a crowded competition into a quick exit. [Read more 🡒]
Dolphins Ugly Start Is Fueling A Debate Fans Dread
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Hafley has already said the group is not yet where it needs to be, and that admission only feeds the larger debate around the quarterback situation and how quickly this rebuild can actually turn. For fans, the concern is less about the preseason record itself than what it seems to reveal about the bigger picture, with the conversation now drifting toward whether the Dolphins are closer to sorting out their future or still a longer way off than anyone wants to admit. [Read more 🡒]
Dolphins Suddenly Loom In Deshaun Watson's Unsettled Browns Situation
Deshaun Watsons return to the field has put the Browns in an awkward spot, with the quarterback trying to reclaim a starting job after two Achilles tears while head coach Todd Monken sorts through a crowded preseason competition. Watson has been battling Shedeur Sanders for the role, but a rough outing against the Bills added another layer of uncertainty to a situation that already felt far from settled.
If Clevelands uncertainty stretches deeper into the season, the next question becomes where Watson could land if the Browns eventually move in another direction. The Dolphins have at least been mentioned among the possibilities, alongside teams such as the Rams and Raiders, because of how their offenses and quarterback situations could line up with a veteran like Watson. For Miami, it is the sort of speculative backdrop that can linger around the league until a roster actually forces the issue. [Read more 🡒]