Tag: Clayton Fejedelem

Dolphins make trio of roster moves ahead of Week 5 vs. Jets

Busy day for Miami.

The Miami Dolphins have made a number of roster moves early in the season, and that’s not stopping now.

On Saturday, the team announced that they would be activating safety Clayton Fejedelem off of injured reserve, placing tight end Cethan Carter on injured reserve and elevating offensive tackle Brandon Shell from the practice squad.

Fejedelem had started practicing this week after being placed on injured reserve with an undisclosed injury heading into Week 1. There’s a chance he makes his season debut on Sunday.

Carter suffered a concussion in the season opener against the New England Patriots and has yet to return to action. This will give him at least four more weeks to get back on the field.

Shell signed with Miami’s practice squad just under a month ago, and he’s been getting back in football shape after being unsigned for most of the offseason. As a veteran offensive tackle, he can step in if there’s another injury along the line. This role was held by Larnel Coleman over the last two weeks, but Coleman is out of elevations.

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Dolphins DB Clayton Fejedelem designated to return

He’s the first of eight returns that can be used in the season.

Right before the start of the season, safety and special teamer Clayton Fejedelem was placed on injured reserve with an undisclosed injury, meaning he would miss at least four weeks.

The team used his roster spot to bring in Justin Bethel, who has looked really good in his opportunities on punt coverage.

On Wednesday, Miami designated Fejedelem to return from injured reserve. He’ll have 21 days to be activated from the roster, or he’ll have to miss the remainder of the season.

As of this year, teams are only allowed to return eight players from injured reserve in a season, so this would be their first. If Fejedelem doesn’t return in the 21-day window, Miami would still have burned one of their returns.

It will be interesting to see the corresponding move if Fejedelem is activated because there’s not an open roster spot at this point.

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Dolphins sign DB Justin Bethel, place Clayton Fejedelem on IR

These moves likely matter most for special teams.

After a few days of making roster moves to get down under the 53-man limit and then filling in their practice squad, the Miami Dolphins made another pair of transactions on Thursday.

According to ESPN’s Marcel Louis-Jacques, the Dolphins have placed safety Clayton Fejedelem on injured reserve, and they’ve filled his spot by signing former New England Patriots defensive back Justin Bethel.

Fejedelem made Miami’s initial roster mainly due to his special teams ability, as he played just 16 snaps on defense last year. Bethel is also a career special teamer and could provide something as a depth cornerback if necessary. He may also bring some insight on the Patriots, as he was released by them this week.

Being placed on injured reserve means that Fejedelem must miss at least four games, so he could return for Week 5.

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2022 Dolphins position preview: Breaking down the safeties heading into camp

The top spots appear to be locked up.

The Miami Dolphins are beginning their first training camp with new head coach Mike McDaniel at the helm, as rookies reported last week and veterans arrive on Tuesday.

Fans will have to wait until Saturday to get their first peek at the team, as that is the first session open to the public.

Until then, it’s a great time to finish assessing the roster after an offseason of moves.

We’ve talked about quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, tight ends, offensive linemen, defensive linemen, linebackers, cornerbacks and specialists but now it’s time to finish the final position group and discuss the safeties on the roster.

Dolphins RB and S ratings in Madden NFL 23

Two safeties made it into the 80s.

With the end of another NFL offseason insight, football fans are eagerly awaiting the release of the newest installment of the Madden video game series, Madden 23.

After the release of wide receiver/tight end ratings on Monday, and linebacker/defensive end ratings on Tuesday, EA Sports, the publishers of the game, released running back and safety ratings on Wednesday. The Dolphins have some solid players at each position, but no one made it into the elite 90s.

Here’s a look at most of Miami’s running back and safety ratings for launch and how they compare to other players at the same position:

  • Jevon Holland – 83 overall (t-No. 10 FS)
  • Eric Rowe – 80 overall (t-No. 17 SS)
  • Chase Edmonds – 79 overall (t-No. 33 RB)
  • Raheem Mostert – 78 overall (t-No. 37 RB)
  • Sony Michel – 77 overall (t-No. 42 RB)
  • Myles Gaskin – 74 overall (t-No. 59 RB)
  • Brandon Jones 72 overall (t-No. 40 SS)
  • Clayton Fejedelem – 70 overall (t-No. 45 SS)
  • Sheldrick Redwine – 70 overall (t-No. 47 FS)
  • Salvon Ahmed – 69 overall (t-No. 91 RB)
  • Quincy Wilson – 67 overall (t-No. 61 SS)
  • Verone McKinley III – 63 overall (t-No. 79 FS)
  • Gerrid Doaks – 62 overall (t-No. 157 RB)

While Dolphins fans may not be the happiest with these rankings, they can rest on the fact that Mostert was listed as the fastest running back in the league with a 95 speed rating.

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Dolphins have a number of unsung heroes in all three phases

The fanbase should be showing more love to these guys.

Every football team needs a few stars in order to be legitimate contenders in the NFL. However, sometimes it’s the role players and unsung heroes sprinkled across rosters that could be the difference between playoff contention and Super Bowl contention.

Football is the quintessential team game, with three phases needed for success. The Miami Dolphins have several players scattered across the offense, defense and special teams who may not have their names mentioned as much as others, yet their value is immeasurable for team success.

Let’s start with a player who’s silently become one of the league’s most underrated and consistent defensive linemen. Zach Sieler, who was picked up on waivers in 2019 after a year in Baltimore, has fit in nicely in a defensive line rotation and even earned himself a payday from the Dolphins in 2020 with a three-year extension. Sieler played in all 17 games in 2021 and had 62 total tackles. He added a pair of sacks, recovered two fumbles and forced one while being the consummate run-stuffer.

Sieler was PFF’s 2021 highest-graded Miami Dolphins player at 84.8

Moving over to offense, the Dolphins are two years removed from having the franchise’s most prolific season at the tight end position ever, thanks to the output from Mike Gesicki, Adam Shaheen and Durham Smythe combining for 91 receptions, 1,061 yards, and 11 touchdowns in 2020.

Last season, Smythe played in every game and had career highs in catches, yards, and first downs. He wasn’t able to find the endzone, but that’s not something Smythe cares too much about. Recently re-signed during this off-season, Smythe is extremely valuable as he proved last season with his constant reliability. When thrown to in 2021, quarterbacks had a quarterback rating of 92.8%, and Smythe caught 82.9% of his targets. He reeled in 34 receptions last season, and 15 went for first downs.

Finally, we look at special teams. This slot was ready for Mack Hollins, but the gunner extraordinaire/wide receiver will be playing for the Las Vegas Raiders in 2022. However, a current captain leads the Dolphins’ special teams unit, and, in his upcoming third season in Miami, Clayton Fejedelem is a safe bet to retain the “C” on his jersey.

A team-appointed captain for his tenure in Miami thus far, Fejedelem was in on 85% of the Dolphins’ special teams snaps in 2021. He was among the team leaders in special teams tackles last season and should continue his leadership role in 2022.

Miami does have other role-players of heavy value, including depth defensive lineman, Adam Butler, who played admirably filling in for the injured Raekwon Davis early in the season. Butler had an excellent second half of the year, gathering a pair of sacks and three passes defended after Week 8.

Let’s also not forget versatile offensive lineman, Michael Deiter, who was praised by the Dolphins brass at the recent league meetings. The Wisconsin product can play any position on the line and showed promise at center before an injury limited to just eight games in 2021. If not center, Deiter will be a factor in camp battles on the right side at guard or even tackle.

Honorable mentions go to re-signed linebackers Duke Riley and Elandon Roberts, who are high-motor, energetic veterans who tend to make momentum-building plays. Roberts has a knack for noisy hits, and Riley plays two phases of the game and was among the team leaders in special team tackles last season.

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Dolphins create cap space restructuring Byron Jones and Clayton Fejedelem

The Dolphins are making sure they have the money to stay cap compliant.

The Miami Dolphins have spent quite a bit of money since the start of the offseason between re-signing their free agents, signing others, and trading for/extending wide receiver Tyreek Hill.

With all of these moves, the Dolphins needed to re-work some of their existing contracts to give them some wiggle room.

On Friday, ESPN’s Field Yates reported that Miami converted part of cornerback Byron Jones’ salary into a bonus as well as re-worked Clayton Fejedelem’s contract as well.

The conversion for Jones creates $10.694 million in cap space for the Dolphins, and Fejedelem’s re-working adds another $750,000.

According to Over the Cap, before these restructures Miami had $3.65 million remaining this season, however, that number didn’t include Terron Armstead or Sheldrick Redwine’s contracts.

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Bengals lose Clayton Fejedelem to Dolphins via free agency

The Bengals lost a core piece of the special teams.

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The Cincinnati Bengals didn’t do much besides tag A.J. Green on the first day of legal tampering ahead of 2020 NFL free agency.

Other teams took advantage.

The Miami Dolphins, for example, swooped in and agreed to sign Bengals safety Clayton Fejedelem to a three-year deal, per his agent.

That doesn’t sound like the biggest loss at face value. But Fejedelem was a special-teams ace for Darrin Simmons, the special teams coordinator and assistant head coach. He’s been a Pro Bowl player and rotated into the base defense at times.

While the Bengals will surely employ the next-man-up philosophy on special teams, constantly swapping out players last year is part of the reason even Simmons’ unit struggled. Now it loses a noteworthy member on the first day of legal tampering.

There is a disclaimer to keep in mind: While it might’ve disappointed fans to see the inaction of Monday, Fejedelem perhaps wanted other things besides cash — like a starting gig in the base defense in Miami. Either way, it’s a notable loss.

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