Dolphins awarded no waiver claims, begin practice squad signings

Yesterday marked the end of the 2020 “presason” for the NFL - an odd preseason in which there were no preseason games. As the regular season rules went into effect at 4pm ET Saturday, teams were required to drop to the in-season 53-man roster limit. That led to hundreds of players across the league being released or hitting the waiver wire. At noon on Sunday, those waiver wire claims were awarded, with the Miami Dolphins not adding any new players.

That is a stark contrast to last year, when the Dolphins added five players off waiver claims.

With no one new hitting the roster today, Miami is on to constructing their practice squad, with two names already reported.

Wide receiver Antonio Callaway will be on Miami’s practice squad, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. Callaway was a fourth-round pick by the Cleveland Browns in 2018, appearing in 16 games with 11 starts as a rookie. In 2019, he started the season with a four-game suspension for violation of the league’s substance abuse policy. He appeared in four games with two starts during the season, but was waived by the Browns due to personal conduct issues where he reportedly was consistently late to meetings and practices, as well as being suspended again by the NFL for violation of the substance abuse policy. The suspension carries over from the 2019 season into the start of the 2020 league year.

Quarterback Jake Rudock, who spent the 2019 season on the Dolphins practice squad and visited the team twice in the last couple of weeks, returns to provide depth to the position. He will serve as the team’s third quarterback, while remaining on the practice squad, behind Ryan Fitzpatrick and Tua Tagovailoa.

The NFL has expanded practice squads to 16 players this year, with six of those slots available to players with any amount of NFL experience, up from the normal three-year maximum. Two players per week will also be allowed to be promoted to the active roster for game day without the team needing to create a roster spot for them.

Practice squad signings are not official until the team reports them. In past years, there have been reports of a signing, with the player on the way to the team facility, only to have another team make a better offer and the player change to signing with the second club. It is a fluid day, with players being added to rosters quickly - especially with 16 spots available per team this year - so we will keep up with everything as it becomes known.