Dolphins make punter moves; waive Tommy Heatherly, sign Sterling Hofrichter

The Miami Dolphins announced today they have waived punter Tommy Heatherly and signed punter Sterling Hofrichter, as per the team’s official website.

Heatherly signed with Miami this offseason as an undrafted college free agent from Florida International University. From 2019 to 2021, Heatherly appeared in all 30 of FIU’s games, amassing 161 punts across his college career, and did enough in 2021 to earn first-team All-Conference USA honors. Recently, Heatherly also made headlines on social media, posting videos that showed an astonishing 5+ second hang time on his punts.

The Dolphins are replacing Heatherly with Sterling Hofrichter, who was selected in the 7th round of the 2020 NFL Draft by the Atalanta Falcons. As a rookie, Hofrichter racked up 56 punts for 2,381 yards across 16 games, averaging 42.5 yards per punt.

Last season, Hofrichter signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’s practice squad in late December, and eventually appeared in two games for Tampa towards the tail end of their season.