MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- The Miami Dolphins released kicker Riley Patterson in a move aimed to improve one of the NFL's worst special teams units.
The Dolphins announced Patterson's release amid a series of roster moves Tuesday. Miami waived cornerback Storm Duck and linebacker Andre Jones Jr. and signed edge rusher Rodney McGraw off the practice squad.
The Dolphins also brought back kicker Zane Gonzalez, who spent part of training camp with the team before being released with an injury settlement in August. Gonzalez was signed to the practice squad.
Patterson joined the Dolphins last season in place of an injured Jason Sanders, making 27 of 29 field goal attempts and 34 of 35 extra point attempts. He made seven of his nine field goal attempts in 2026, but his execution on kickoffs fell short of Miami's expectations.
The Dolphins allowed an 81-yard return on their opening kickoff against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 5, just ahead of their Week 6 bye. Dolphins coach Jeff Hafley was asked Monday whether he had considered kicking the ball through the end zone, given Miami's struggles with defending kickoff returns.
Hafley admit that was the plan, it just wasn't executed.
"We did try to kick them out of the end zone; that was discussed and just not executed the way that we wanted it to be," he said. "Now fortunately, we covered a bunch of those kicks better than we did on the first time. And yeah, they had a nice return on the big return, obviously we didn't execute it very well.
"So I would say it's a combination of lack of execution on the big one. Good execution on their part, I don't want to take that away from them. And then on the ensuing kickoffs, yeah, several of them were supposed to be touchbacks and weren't."
Miami has allowed an NFL-worst 34.1 yards per kick return this season, but ranks fourth in the league with 23.5% of its kickoffs resulting in touchbacks. Patterson is tied for third on the team in special teams tackles with four.
