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ASHBURN, VA – AUGUST 12: Head coach Jeff Hafley of the Miami Dolphins speaks with media during a joint practice at BigBear.ai Performance Center on August 12, 2026 in Ashburn, Virginia. (Photo by Scott Taetsch\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The Miami Dolphins<\/a> \u2014 like all other NFL teams \u2014 will be forced to make some tough cuts entering the 2026 season.<\/p>\n Teams will be forced to trim their roster from 90 players during the preseason and training camp to 53 players by the time the regular season rolls around with a deadline on August 30.<\/p>\n That means veterans who have lengthy resumes will be cut in addition to the number of young players who have never appeared in NFL<\/a> games.<\/p>\n As Bleacher Report\u2019s Moe Moton writes in his column<\/a> of \u201c1 Player Each NFL Team Should Cut\u201d entering the 2026 season, the name mentioned for the Dolphins is none other than veteran linebacker Willie Gay Jr.<\/p>\n The 28-year-old previously won two Super Bowls as a member of the Kansas City Chiefs<\/a> after he was selected in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft. Gay started 28 games during the 2022 and 2023 seasons when the Chiefs won their Super Bowls and had a career best season during the 2022 campaign when he posted 88 tackles.<\/p>\n However, he was a non factor for the Dolphins during the 2025 season after inking a one-year deal, posting just 20 tackles in 17 games and two starts.<\/p>\n \u201cLast season with the Dolphins, Gay only played 12 percent of the defensive snaps and 29 percent on special teams,\u201d writes Moton. \u201cHe\u2019s three years removed from being a full-time starting linebacker with the Kansas City Chiefs and hasn\u2019t been able to find his way in a backup role. The 28-year-old will probably need to look for work elsewhere after final cuts.\u201d<\/p>\n Dolphins Have Added Number of Linebackers This Offseason<\/p>\n The Dolphins are obviously under a new regime with first-year head coach Jeff Hafley and general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan. The roster looks completely different from last season and Miami is expected to be one of the worst teams in the NFL this season after years of being a contender.<\/p>\n As Moton notes, Miami has made a number of moves at the linebacker position this offseason, including adding the likes of Jacob Rodriguez Jr., Kyle Louis and Tyrel Dodson.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Miami Dolphins drafted linebackers Jacob Rodriguez and Kyle Louis in the second and fourth rounds, respectively,\u201d said Moton. \u201cThey also signed All-Pro linebacker Jordyn Brooks to a three-year, $51.3 million extension. All three are roster locks. In 2025, Tyrel Dodson had his most productive pro season, recording 129 tackles (10 for loss), five sacks, 10 pressures, three pass breakups and an interception. He should be a starter alongside Brooks, unless new defensive-minded head coach Jeff Hafley sees him as a poor fit for his system.\u201d<\/p>\n Willie Gay Jr.\u2019s Timeline Doesn\u2019t Align With Dolphins\u2019 Path<\/p>\n The mixture of rookie linebackers and veteran linebackers who already have cemented and worthwhile roles on the team means that the Dolphins have no use for Gay. Considering Gay is on a one-year, $1.4 million deal<\/a> \u2014 less than $700K is guaranteed \u2014 that makes him an easy cut for the Dolphins leading into the season.<\/p>\n When also factoring in that the 28-year-old Gay\u2019s \u2014 who has Super Bowl experience and has started 57 games in his career \u2014 timeline doesn\u2019t match up with the Dolphins\u2019 timeline of rebuilding, it almost makes too much sense for Miami to move on from him.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tDJ Siddiqi<\/a> covers the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, Seattle Seahawks and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He has covered the NFL and NBA for Forbes, ClutchPoints, CBS Sports, 24\/7 Sports and Bleacher Report before joining Heavy. More about DJ Siddiqi<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty ASHBURN, VA – AUGUST 12: Head coach Jeff Hafley of the Miami Dolphins speaks with media during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372625,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-372624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}