Tag: Blake Ferguson

Dolphins long snapper won’t return from non-football illness list

The Dolphins are planning to finish the season with Jack McQuaide taking over long snapping duties.

Miami Dolphins long snapper Blake Ferguson returned to practice earlier this month with a designation to return from the non-football illness list. On Wednesday, head coach Mike McDaniel said that return isn’t going to happen.

“I don’t think we’ll be seeing Blake this season. His focus will be the 2025 season and that’s why we did the move,” McDaniel said.

The move McDaniel is talking about was the team’s decision to sign long snapper Jack McQuaide to the 53-man roster on Tuesday.

Ferguson, 27, landed on the NFI list in October for reasons that neither he nor the Dolphins have made public. The veteran long snapper is one of only a handful of players in the NFL with Type 1 Diabetes, which he has spoken about publicly.

The Dolphins signed Ferguson as an undrafted rookie in 2020 and he hadn’t missed a game in more than four seasons before he was sidelined earlier this year. Miami signed him to a contract extension in 2023 that is due to keep him on the team through the 2026 season.

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Dolphins shut down WR Grant DuBose, replace him on roster with LS

Grant DuBose’s season is almost certainly over after landing on IR again.

Two days after Miami Dolphins wide receiver Grant DuBose suffered a serious injury in a Week 15 game against the Houston Texans, he was placed on the injured reserve Tuesday.

DuBose, 23, was stretchered off the field at NRG Stadium after a helmet-to-helmet hit left him motionless. A medical team removed his facemask and cut off his jersey before eventually taking him to a local hospital. On Monday, the Dolphins said “tests have revealed positive results” and DuBose has movement in all of his extremities.

While the Dolphins could technically bring back DuBose from the injured reserve for a second time — he was removed from IR on Saturday — he’s required to miss at least four games, which almost certainly ends his year. In three games with the Dolphins, DuBose caught two passes for 11 yards.

Replacing the receiver on the active roster is long snapper Jack McQuaide. The Dolphins have had a steady rotation of long snappers since placing veteran Blake Ferguson on the non-football illness list, elevating players from the practice squad rather than keeping a long snapper on the active roster.

Ferguson returned to practice earlier this month, but will be done for the remainder of the season if he isn’t activated for the Dolphins’ Week 16 game against the San Francisco 49ers.

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Dolphins long snapper returns to practice after 2 months out of action

The Dolphins appear to be getting their long snapper back soon.

Miami Dolphins long snapper Blake Ferguson returned to practice Wednesday, nearly two months after he was placed on the non-football injury list.

Ferguson, 27, last played in a Week 5 win against the New England Patriots. The team hasn’t revealed why the long snapper has been out of action, but head coach Mike McDaniel told reporters that he expected the veteran would return to action before the end of the season.

In his absence, the Dolphins rotated through a few long snappers on their practice squad. First, the team relied on the services of Matt Overton for three games, then it was Tucker Addington for the next three. Most recently, Zach Triner was elevated to be the team’s long snapper on Thanksgiving for a game against the Green Bay Packers.

Unlike Overton, Addington, and Triner, Ferguson has taken a spot on the 53-man roster. His impending return would require the Dolphins to release a player from the active roster to make room.

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Dolphins add new long snapper to practice squad

The Dolphins swapped out practice squad long snappers and are turning to Tucker Addington to handle the duties.

The Miami Dolphins are signing veteran long snapper Tucker Addington to their practice squad, his agent told Aaron Wilson KPRC 2 in Houston.

Addington, 27, previously had stints with the Dallas Cowboys, New England Patriots, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Washington Commanders, although he only saw regular season action with New England and Washington.

The Dolphins have had a revolving door at long snapper in recent weeks after placing fifth-year player Blake Ferguson on the non-football illness list in October. The team signed Matt Overton to the practice squad and twice elevated him to the active roster.

However, a third elevation would’ve required the Dolphins to sign Overton to the active roster and release one of their 53 players to make room. Instead, Miami swapped a new long snapper on to the practice squad by signing Addington.

Presumably, the plan will be to elevate Addington twice to avoid dedicating one of their 53 roster spots to a long snapper while the Dolphins wait for Ferguson to return.

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Dolphins cut veteran long snapper after 2 games

Matt Overton’s time with the Dolphins appears to be over after only a couple games.

The Miami Dolphins released veteran long snapper Matt Overton from their practice squad Monday, the team announced.

Overton, 39, joined the Dolphins in October after the team’s fifth-year long snapper Blake Ferguson was moved to the non-football illness list. Miami twice elevated Overton from the practice squad to make him available on game days and would’ve had to release a player from the 53-man roster to have Overton play a third time.

With Ferguson required to miss at least two more games, the Dolphins appear to have instead decided they’ll swap in a new long snapper by adding one to the practice squad, who they can elevate twice without using a roster spot.

For now, though, the Dolphins don’t have a long snapper on their active roster or practice squad.

In Overton’s two games with Miami, the Dolphins had no issues on special teams. Kicker Jason Sanders made all four of his field goal attempts and all six extra point tries, while punter Jake Bailey averaged 43 yards on three punts with one downed inside the 20.

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Dolphins make long snapper swap, shelve Blake Ferguson

Blake Ferguson will miss at least four games after landing on the reserve/non-football illness list Saturday.

The Miami Dolphins placed long snapper Blake Ferguson on the reserve/non-football illness list Saturday and signed veteran long snapper Matt Overton to take his place on the roster.

The reason for Ferguson’s sudden departure from the active roster isn’t yet clear, but the fifth-year Dolphins snapper popped up on the injury report Friday with what the team called a personal issue.

Overton, 39, has bounced around the professional football ranks since first signing with the Seattle Seahawks in 2007. He didn’t play his first NFL game until five years later with the Indianapolis Colts and managed to earn Pro Bowl honors with the team in 2013. He later had stints with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Los Angeles Chargers, Tennessee Titans, Los Angeles Rams, Dallas Cowboys, and Chicago Bears.

Assuming he’s active Sunday against the Colts, Overton will play in his first game since the 2022 season when he was a member of the Cowboys.

Ferguson was a sixth-round pick in the 2020 NFL draft and hasn’t missed a game with the Dolphins until now. He’s required to miss at least four games before he’s eligible to return to action.

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Dolphins place rookie S Patrick McMorris on IR, re-sign Blake Ferguson

Blake Ferguson is back, but rookie safety Patrick McMorris will be out of action to begin his NFL career.

Miami Dolphins rookie safety Patrick McMorris was placed on the injured reserve Thursday morning.

McMorris, 22, is now slated to miss at least four games in his rookie year, but — barring injuries in the secondary — it may make sense for the Dolphins to keep the sixth-round pick on the IR.

For one, the Dolphins are allowed to bring a maximum of eight players back from the IR in a season. Two of those designations are expected to be used to bring back wide receiver River Cracraft and cornerback Cam Smith, who landed on the IR on Tuesday. Additionally, the Dolphins can only carry 48 active players on game days and there’s not a significant need for McMorris with four veteran safeties on the roster.

McMorris impressed in the Dolphins’ preseason debut, receiving a 73.2 grade from PFF against the Atlanta Falcons. On four targets, McMorris was credited with allowing only nine receiving yards.

The Dolphins used the roster spot freed up by the McMorris transaction to bring back long snapper Blake Ferguson. An expected move, the fifth-year specialist was released Tuesday as a procedural to move to open an additional roster space for two days.

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Blake Ferguson changing jersey number to give Chop Robinson No. 44

Chop Robinson will get his jersey number of choice after all.

Miami Dolphins long snapper Blake Ferguson announced he’s changing his jersey number to No. 48 after a conversation with first-round pick Chop Robinson, who wanted to wear Ferguson’s No. 44.

“I heard from Chop very early Friday morning as he was making his way to Miami Gardens and he was just expressing to me how important the No. 44 was to him and asked if I’d be willing to consider taking a different number,” Ferguson said in a video posted on social media.

“I found that the jersey number that I wore for my last two years in college, and that I was able to win a national championship in, was available. Jersey No. 48. So that’s the jersey I’ll be in moving forward, I’m super, super pumped about it.”

Ferguson also announced that fans who own his No. 44 jersey can send them to the Dolphins facility and he’ll replace it with an autographed No. 48 jersey.

Robinson wore No. 4 during his time at Maryland and then No. 44 in his two seasons at Penn State.

The pass rusher will be the 18th player in Dolphins history to wear the No. 44 jersey. Others include defensive back Paul Lankford, fullback Rob Konrad, and linebacker Elandon Roberts (who later switched to No. 52).

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Chop Robinson wants to wear No. 44 with the Dolphins, but it’s taken

Chop Robinson says he’d like to wear No. 44 with the Dolphins, but that jersey has belonged to long snapper Blake Ferguson.

Chop Robinson wore No. 44 during his two seasons with the Penn State Nittany Lions. He’d like to wear it with the Miami Dolphins too.

“Of course 44, but I don’t know who has 44 or if it’s open, so I haven’t really looked at it yet,” Robinson told reporters, via Chris Perkins of the Sun Sentinel.

Just one problem: Dolphins long snapper Blake Ferguson has been the proud owner of No. 44 since he was picked by the team in the 2020 NFL draft.

So far, Ferguson hasn’t said anything about the possibility of handing the number over to the rookie. He did, however, celebrate the pick when it was made Thursday night.

Robinson didn’t sound particularly concerned about the possibility that he’d have to change numbers, though. He wore No. 4 during his one season with the Maryland Terrapins and he was Nos. 42 and 44 in high school.

Dolphins cornerback Kader Kohou owns the No. 4 jersey. Maybe a return to No. 42, which is currently unclaimed, would interest Robinson. Either way, it doesn’t seem like a battle for No. 44 is on the way.

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Grading the Dolphins specialists after their 2023 season

A look at Miami’s kicker, punter and long snapper, and the year they had in 2023.

The Miami Dolphins finished their 2023 campaign with an 11-6 record and made the postseason for the second time in as many years under head coach Mike McDaniel. Unfortunately, it came to an end with a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the wild-card round.

While other teams are in the midst of their playoff run, it’s time to do some reflecting on the team in South Florida.

Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be reviewing and evaluating different positions for the Dolphins in 2023. Today, we’ll wrap up with the specialists.