Sunday Miami Dolphins Notebook: Baker and Davis’ Social Media Messages, Foster Thoughts and Remaining Free Agents
Recapping notebook-style the past week for the Miami Dolphins before they start the second week of the offseason program:
Baker Reacts to Hoskins
Linebacker Jerome Baker probably was the Dolphins player most affected by the tragic news of Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Dwayne Haskins being killed when he was hit by a dump truck in South Florida on Saturday morning.
Baker and Haskins were teammates at Ohio State in 2017, which was Baker’s final year before joining the Dolphins as a 2018 third-round pick and one year before Haskins took over as starting quarterback and played his way into being a first-round pick for Washington in 2019.
Baker expressed his feelings via Instagram.
Davis Says Goodbye to Dolphins
Also on social media this weekend, offensive lineman Jesse Davis turned the page on his time with the Dolphins with a thank you message.
While he clearly didn’t have a particularly good 2021 season, Davis overall was a pretty solid offensive lineman for the Dolphins who was asked to move around quite a bit the past few years — he started games at every position on the offensive line except center in his five seasons with Miami — and the excuse of never being able to settle on one position somehow rarely has been used on his behalf.
After he was released by the Dolphins, Davis signed a one-year contract with the Minnesota Vikings, where he’s expected to compete for the starting right guard position — a spot for which he’s probably better suited than either left tackle or right tackle.
Thoughts on the Foster Workout
That certainly was quite a headline-grabber when the Dolphins gave a workout Friday to former 49ers first-round pick Reuben Foster, according to The Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson.
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For one thing, Foster hasn’t played in the NFL since 2018 when he was a member of the San Francisco 49ers (with Mike McDaniel as the run game coordinator those days) after dealing with a series of injuries.
Foster also has had his share of off-the-field issues, including a couple of arrests and an NFL suspension for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy.
Three things stand out about this:
First, it’s another low-risk, high-potential move if Foster is healthy again and the off-the-field issues are a thing of the past because Foster clearly has loads of talent.
Second, while Foster has a lot of baggage, his situation is not quite the same as that of Deshaun Watson for those who would equate the two because he doesn’t have 22 civil lawsuits hanging over his head. This, however, does illustrate that the Dolphins (as most teams) do believe in second chances for players who have gotten in trouble in the past.
Lastly, as we’ve done in the past with talented players whose careers hadn’t panned out before Miami gave them a shot — think Antonio Callaway, for example — understand that there’s a reason things haven’t worked out so far and expecting Foster to join the Dolphins and be a difference-maker probably isn’t realistic.
It would be awesome if that happened, but the odds clearly are long that it’s how things are going to play out.
Unsigned Dolphins Free Agents
The Dolphins had 20 players scheduled to become unrestricted free agents March 16, and as of Sunday evening eight of them remained without a team.
That list includes WR Will Fuller V, RB Phillip Lindsay, WR Albert Wilson, RB Malcolm Brown, P Michael Palardy, DB Jason McCourty, WR Isaiah Ford and LB Vince Biegel.
Also still unsigned are RB Patrick Laird and CB Jamal Perry, who were not tendered as restricted free agents.
Finally, other free agents include WR Allen Hurns, who was released two weeks ago, and four players who were not re-signed after their practice squad contract expired: C Spencer Pulley, WR Tommylee Lewis, RB Jordan Scarlett and G Durval Queiroz Neto.
