Tag: Cedrick Wilson Jr.

Dolphins free agent profile: WR Cedrick Wilson probably not returning in 2024

Dolphins fans probably shouldn’t expect him back in 2024.

The Miami Dolphins have 29 players who are slated to hit free agency in March, including a wide receiver who agreed to a reworked contract last year – Cedrick Wilson Jr.

Wilson, 28, was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the sixth round of the 2018 NFL draft following a collegiate career split between Coffeyville and Boise State that included an All-Mountian West final season.

After missing all of his rookie season, Wilson recorded 67 receptions for 837 yards and eight touchdowns over the next three years before signing a three-year deal worth $22.8 million with the Dolphins in 2022.

At the time, Wilson was signed to be the team’s second wideout behind Jaylen Waddle, but neither Wilson nor the team knew that Tyreek Hill would become available not much later, pushing the former Cowboy to the third spot on the depth chart.

In his first season, Wilson seemed to be passed by Trent Sherfield as Miami’s third wide receiver, but he did contribute in the return game, which was an area the Dolphins were definitely lacking. He finished the year with just 12 receptions for 136 yards.

After the down year, the two sides agreed to a reworked contract prior to the 2023 season, giving him a $3 million bonus and having his contract void at the end of the year.

This past season, he recorded 22 receptions for 296 yards and three touchdowns. While the timing of his plays seemed to be more important, it still wasn’t enough to justify his contract.

Now, Wilson hits the market at 28 years old, and his value is likely less than what it was when he became a free agent following his final year in Dallas where he took on a larger role.

Wilson said all of the right things during his time in Miami, but it wouldn’t be surprising to find out that he was frustrated with his role and lack of opportunities. So, even if the Dolphins were interested in bringing him back on a cheaper deal, it would make sense for him to want to maximize his value elsewhere.

Mike McDaniel and Chris Grier need to find depth at wide receiver, but they’ll likely have to find another veteran or someone in the draft to fill that role.

Grading the Dolphins wide receivers after their 2023 season

A look at Miami’s wideouts, 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 look at the wide receivers.

WATCH: Tua Tagovailoa finds Cedrick Wilson for first Dolphins TD vs. Ravens

Miami scores on the opening drive.

The Miami Dolphins received the ball first in their Week 17 battle against the Baltimore Ravens, starting at their 35-yard line.

Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa drove the offense down the field, completing three of his first four passes for 53 yards to set Miami up with a third-and-goal at Baltimore’s eight-yard line.

Tagovailoa hit wide receiver Cedrick Wilson Jr. for the score to put them up 7-0 after one possession.

Without Jaylen Waddle and Raheem Mostert this week, the Dolphins will need big days from their depth options like Wilson.

5 reasons the Dolphins will beat the Ravens in Week 17

Five reasons why the Dolphins will beat Baltimore in Week 17

The toughest test of the season for the Miami Dolphins awaits them in Week 17, as they’ll face the first-place Baltimore Ravens in a game that’ll have major playoff implications.

Baltimore, with a 12-3 record, has a chance to solidify home-field advantage through the AFC playoffs while the 11-4 Dolphins are seeking to secure the AFC East crown and first place in the AFC heading into the final regular-season game. At this point, the Dolphins control their own destiny if they want home-field advantage in January.

Both teams are coming off signature wins.

The Dolphins’ victory over the Dallas Cowboys was their first against a winning team, taking a massive weight off the shoulders of coach Mike McDaniel and his team. The Ravens are coming off a blowout of the San Francisco 49ers, who were widely considered the best team in football until that contest.

The Dolphins will have to play to their strengths and neutralize what the Ravens do well if they hope to have a shot. The talent is eminent for Miami. Judging from previous weeks, the team wearing aqua and orange will be ready to rise to the occasion and upset the Ravens.

Here are five reasons why the Dolphins will emerge victorious against Baltimore:

Mike McDaniel discusses Dolphins disappointing red-zone trips

McDaniel answers to the Miami offense coming up short inside the five.

The Miami Dolphins suffered probably their most embarrassing loss of the season on Monday night against the Tennessee Titans, as Mike Vrabel’s team erased a 14-point deficit with under five minutes left in the game to win 28-27.

While Miami only lost by one point, there was a lot left to be desired throughout the game, specifically on the offensive side of the ball.

It could be argued that the biggest reason why the Dolphins didn’t come away with the win is due to multiple red-zone trips not resulting in touchdowns. Miami’s offense had two chances inside the Tennessee five-yard line, only to muster up three points out of the two drives.

The first trip in close was on the Dolphins’ first drive of the game which ended in a fumbled snap by quarterback Tua Tagovailoa that was recovered by Titans defensive end TK McLendon Jr. This didn’t end up being terribly costly since the Dolphins scored a defensive touchdown three plays later on a Zach Sieler pick-6.

The second Miami trip to the red zone came in the third quarter with the Dolphins down 10-7. The drive ended on a third-down play from the Tennessee two-yard line (the same down and distance as the previous fumble).

Instead of handing the ball off to their reliable running back Raheem Mostert, the Dolphins once again chose to pass. Titans cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting defended the pass to receiver Cedrick Wilson Jr. beautifully, as the Dolphins came away with a field goal instead of the desired touchdown.

Coach Mike McDaniel was asked about coming up short in the red zone during his postgame media availability.

“We’ve made a point to do a pretty good job down there (the redzone) and we did not tonight,” McDaniel said. “You could point that as the number one reason we didn’t win the game. For me, you call plays for them to work, and they didn’t.”

These were two short third-and-goal plays where Mostert has proven himself more than capable of coming away with points. Electing to not run the ball in this situation is always going to be subject to questioning when it doesn’t work out. Miami’s passing game was also weakened with the injury to Tyreek Hill, making it easier for the Titans to lock up the Dolphins receivers.

“We’d done out of character things to almost find a way to lose the game,” McDaniel continued. “The guys still fought, but you have to play a certain type of football to expect to win. We have really good players, and we should be successful down there. We’ll go comb the tape and make sure the certain things that kept us from getting in the endzone don’t in the future.”

McDaniel hasn’t been shy about accepting accountability when things haven’t gone well for his team, a valued trait also shown in Tagovailoa. It’s a testament to the great leadership this team has and why they’ve been able to bounce back quickly from losses, and it seems to have worked considering they have yet to lose back-to-back games this season.

The Dolphins have a short week to prepare for a divisional showdown against the New York Jets. Look for McDaniel’s team to be ready and focused to win decisively against their rivals.

Chiefs allow their first deep touchdown of the season against Dolphins

The Chiefs hadn’t allowed a deep touchdown pass all season long, but Tua Tagovailoa broke that streak with a TD to Cedrick Wilson, Jr.

Through the first eight weeks of the 2023 NFL season, the Kansas City Chiefs’ defense has been one of the league’s most pleasant surprises — this has been especially true against deep passes. Coming into Sunday’s game against the Miami Dolphins in Frankfurt, Germany, Steve Spagnuolo’s defense had allowed 12 completions of 20 or more air yards on 35 attempts for 384 yards, no touchdowns, no interceptions, six pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 76.4.

Spagnuolo’s defense held Tua Tagovailoa and Mike McDaniel’s usually explosive offense in check in a scoreless first half for Miami, but with 4:47 left in the third quarter, Tagovailoa broke the Chiefs’ goose egg against deep touchdowns with this 31-yard touchdown to receiver Cedrick Wilson Jr. in which Wilson did a great job of bending his route away from cornerback Trent McDuffie.

WATCH: Tua Tagovailoa hits Cedrick Wilson for 31-yard TD vs. Chiefs

Miami finally gets on the board in the third quarter.

After the Miami Dolphins were held scoreless in the first half of their Week 9 matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs in Germany, they finally found the end zone late in the third quarter.

Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa threw a deep ball to wideout Cedrick Wilson, who secured the reception for a 31-yard score, his second touchdown of the season.

The score cut Kansas City’s lead down to 14 points with just under five minutes to go in the third frame. They’ll need to continue chipping away in the second half to have a chance in this one.

J.C. Jackson got traded to the Patriots just to get scorched by Tyreek Hill again

Tyreek Hill’s Dolphins picked on J.C. Jackson like he’s their little brother. AGAIN.

Earlier this season, it was pretty clear that veteran cornerback J.C. Jackson wasn’t going to figure “it” out with the Los Angeles Chargers. In a Week 1 matchup, Miami Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill took Jackson to task in an 11-catch, 215-yard, two-touchdown performance. (The Chargers, of course, lost.)

When Jackson would later be traded to the New England Patriots, that meant he had another (unfortunate) matchup on hand with Hill and the Dolphins. On Sunday, it finally went about exactly as you’d expect. Late in the first quarter, Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa launched a perfect deep ball to Hill, who seemingly sped past Jackson so easily for a score that he might as well have not even been covering the electric playmaker.

In other words, Hill picked up right where he left off by burning Jackson. Again.

If that weren’t enough, with the Dolphins driving in late in the second quarter, Tagovailoa found Cedrick Wilson Jr. with a precise pass while Jackson was draped all over him. This after being called for a seemingly erroneous pass interference penalty on Hill.

The poor guy just can’t catch a break against this Miami team:

Dear reader, that is Jackson being directly responsible for two Dolphins touchdowns after already getting humiliated by them earlier this season. It was a tough (but probably inevitable) break for the defender.

WATCH: Dolphins’ Cedrick Wilson scores his first TD of the season

Miami grabs the lead.

The Miami Dolphins, after tying the game at seven on a 42-yard touchdown from quarterback Tua Tagovailoa to wide receiver Tyreek Hill, forced the New England Patriots to go three-and-out.

On Miami’s following offensive drive, Tagovailoa found Cedrick Wilson Jr. for the first time this season, as the Dolphins took a 14-7 lead on the one-yard score.

Miami has lost another one of their offensive lineman in this game, as Robert Hunt went down on that drive, so they’ll need to keep getting rid of the ball quick, as they did on this play.

Dolphins’ 2023 training camp preview: WR Cedrick Wilson Jr.

He’ll need to make an impression to get real opportunities.

The Miami Dolphins have wrapped up their rookie minicamp, organized team activities and mandatory minicamps and will return to the Baptist Health Training Complex near the end of July to prepare for the 2023 regular season.

Before that, we’ll be going through the majority of Miami’s roster to preview their background, projected role and bottom line with the team entering training camp.

After looking at some quarterbacks, running backs and four receivers, we’ll move on to a wideout who will be trying to earn playing time before the start of the regular season – Cedrick Wilson Jr.