The Dolphins augmented their cornerback room on Wednesday, adding veteran Cameron Dantzler Sr., who made 26 starts for the Minnesota Vikings earlier this decade but has been out of the league for the past year-and-a-half.
Drafted by Minnesota 89th overall out of Mississippi State in 2020, Dantzler played three seasons for the Vikings, appearing in 35 games with 26 starts, producing 149 tackles, three interceptions and six tackles for loss.
After being released by the Vikings in March 2023, Dantzler had brief summer stints with Washington, Buffalo and Houston. He joined the Saints practice squad that September and appeared in two games for New Orleans that season.
He hasn’t played in the NFL since, instead spending part of last season on the practice squad of the Canadian Football League’s Hamilton Tiger Cats. He joined the UFL’s Memphis Showboats earlier this season.
Dantzler will get a look in a cornerback room that lacks established players behind Mike Hilton Jr. and Jack Jones.
Storm Duck, rookie fifth-round pick Jason Marshall Jr. and Hilton are likely to make the team, and Jones, Cam Smith, Isaiah Johnson, Ethan Bonner, Dantzler, Kendall Sheffield and rookies BJ Adams and Ethan Robinson are competing for other jobs on the 53-man roster.
Bonner is expected to miss some time with a hamstring injury and Sheffield did not practice on Tuesday because of undisclosed reasons.
The Dolphins have not pursued veteran cornerback Asante Samuel, who hasn’t visited the team (contrary to a published report) and isn’t scheduled to visit. Samuel’s agent declined to say if he has received medical clearance after a neck injury.
The agent for a prominent older veteran cornerback said he has reached out to the Dolphins about his client several times but hasn’t heard back.
To make room for Dantzler and veteran edge player Matthew Judon, the Dolphins released receiver Tarik Black and punter Ryan Stonehouse, who lost the punter battle against Jake Bailey.
This and that
The Dolphins loved to see a play in which rookie defensive lineman Kenneth Grant chased down a Lions running back in Saturday’s preseason game.
“I think effort ultimately is a choice,” defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver said. “That’s a battle between you and you. Now we’re expecting uncommon elite effort from everybody.
“I think it sends a particular message to the rest of the team and opponents when that guy is 340 (pounds) and doing that. I think he hit 17.9 (mph) on the Catapult, that’s what was reported. I didn’t know he could move that fast. I think it’s just a credit to everything we’ve seen on tape and Dolphins fans should get excited when people with that mass are moving that way.
“He impacts the game sometimes without even hitting the stat sheet. There was a play where a guy was running a slot was running a speedo and got away from the nickel. The nickel kind of tripped, fell off, was wide open. T “hat ball sailed because Kenneth Grant was pushing the pocket and got a hand up. I’ve seen it multiple times with Justin Madubuike when I was in Baltimore where there were times he affected the play without making the play, and you’re going to see a lot of that from Kenneth Grant, too.”
▪ Weaver said the Dolphins believe the rookie Marshall can play in the slot as well as on the boundary.
▪ Offensive coordinator Frank Smith believes tight end Darren Waller can help quickly after he comes off the physically unable to perform list.
Smith and Waller developed bond - and appreciation for each other -during their time together with the Raiders. Waller said reuniting with Smith one of things that appealed to him about coming out of retirement to join the Dolphins.
“My experience with him, the mental side is an extreme strength of his,” Smith said Tuesday. “Knowing where he needs to be, terminology, that for him is always just something that comes very natural to him because he’s used to having to line up everywhere, especially at the Raiders.”
“For him, really, coming back is just making sure that we’re getting him physically ready considering he had the year off,” Smith said. “So when it comes to him, just my experience with him, I’m not really worried about the mental aspect for the game because he is and probably will (forever) be one of the smartest players I ever coached.”