Welcome to Day 5 of our Dolphins free agency live blog. Keep checking back all day for update.
Dolphins add backup defensive lineman
6 p.m. update: David Ojabo, a backup defensive lineman for Baltimore the past four years, agreed to a deal with the Dolphins on Friday, per ESPN. He’s the 22nd player to sign with the Dolphins this week.
Ojabo had 32 tackles (including two for loss) and 4.5 sacks in 32 games and one start. He played 575 defensive snaps in four seasons, including 196 last season, when he appeared in 14 games.
He has played sparingly on special teams in his career (101 snaps). A native of Nigeria, Ojabo was a second round pick, out of Michigan, in 2022.
He joins Chop Robinson, Cameron Goode, Joshua Uche and Robert Beal as edge rushers on the roster.
Tagovailoa joins Falcons
5:30 p.m. update: As expected, former Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa joined the Atlanta Falcons on Friday, agreeing to a one-year contract at the $1.3 million league minimum. That means the Dolphins will be required to pay $52.7 million of his $54 million salary next season.
“Based off of what happened last year, I knew I needed to play better, but I think this is a great opportunity to be able to come here and get a good reset,” Tagovailoa told the team’s web site. “I want to thank the Blank family. I want to thank Arthur (Blank). I want to thank Coach (Kevin) Stefanski. I want to thank the organization for allowing me this opportunity. I am excited.”
Earlier in the day, new Falcons general manager Ian Cunningham said Tagovailoa will compete with Michael Penix Jr., who’s coming off a torn ACL, for the team’s starting job.
Here’s what the Falcons’ brief release said about Tagovailoa:
“After a standout career at the University of Alabama that included a national championship win, Tagovailoa was selected by the Miami Dolphins with the fifth-overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. He started nine of the Dolphins’ final 10 games during his rookie season and entered the 2021 season as the team’s starter.
“In his third season, Tagovailoa took a step forward under new head coach Mike McDaniel. He led the league in passer rating (105.5), yards per attempt (8.9) and touchdown percentage (6.3), among other quarterback categories. In 2023, Tagovailoa started all 17 games and led the league with 4,624 passing yards, helping the Dolphins achieve an 11-6 record and a spot in the postseason. He was named to the Pro Bowl after the 2023 season. The following year, he led the NFL with a 72.9% completion rate.
Tagovailoa compiled a 44-32 record during six seasons as the Dolphins’ starting quarterback.
The Dolphins will carry a $55.4 million dead money cap hit for Tagovailoa in 2026 and a $43.4 million dead money cap hit in 2027.
Miami’s quarterbacks in 2026 will be Malik Willis, Quinn Ewers and a No. 3 quarterback to be determined.
Campbell leaves
5 p.m. update: The Dolphins wanted to make changes in their safety room, and those changes meant Elijah Campbell would likely be moving on. Campbell found a new team on Friday, agreeing to a one-year deal with the Giants.
Campbell appeared in 65 games with three starts over five seasons in Miami. He played 294 defensive snaps and 1197 on special teams. The Dolphins signed safety and special teams ace Zayne Anderson, who previously played for the Packers, and also added veteran safety Lonnie Johnson Jr.
Punter signed
4 p.m. update: The Dolphins, who lost punter Jake Bailey to the Atlanta Falcons, signed punter Seth Vernon, who punted well in the United Football League last season.
He entered the NFL as an undrafted college free agent with Atlanta in 2022. He spent the offseason and training camp with Minnesota before spending time on Tampa Bay’s practice squad in 2024.
He spent the 2025 season with the Michigan Panthers of the UFL, appearing in nine games and recording 23 punts for 1,044 yards (45.4 avg.) with eight punts pinned inside the 20. Vernon played collegiately at Portland State (2019-21), where he appeared in 24 games, tallying 93 punts for 4,148 yards (44.6 average) with 24 punts landing inside the 20.
He’s the Dolphins’ 21st signing over the past week.
Long snapper added
2 p.m. update: The Dolphins agreed to a deal with long snapper Tucker Addington, who has played for seven teams (including the Dolphins) but appeared in only 10 NFL games.
Out of the league last season, Addington replaces Joe Cardona, who signed with the Rams.
Addington, 28, was one of several practice-squad long snappers who played the maximum permitted three games for the Dolphins in 2024, while Blake Ferguson missed time with an illness.
Addington’s agency, Keeping it Real Sports, noted Addington’s stint with the Dolphins in 2024 and said on X: “Hoping this time around is more longterm.”
Dolphins add Dallas Cowboys receiver
1:30 p.m. update: The Dolphins added a second receiver in free agency on Friday, agreeing to a one-year deal with Jalen Tolbert, who caught 91 passes for 1,093 yards (12.0 per catch) and 10 touchdowns in four NFL seasons, all with the Cowboys. He started one, six, 15 and eight games over the past four seasons.
His best season was 2024, when he had 49 catches for 610 yards and seven touchdowns in 17 games and 15 starts. But the Cowboys’ trade for George Pickens heavily ate into Tolbert’s playing time last year, and he went from playing 76 percent of the Cowboys’ offensive snaps in 2024 to 51 percent last season.
His production also dropped considerably, to 18 catches for 203 yards in 13 games and eight starts.
Tolbert, 6-1, gives the Dolphins a wide receiver with some size to complement three receivers who are under 6-feet: Jaylen Waddle, recent addition Tutu Atwell and Malik Washington. (Tahj Washington and AJ Henning are also under 6 feet.) Theo Wease Jr. and Terrace Marshall Jr., both 6-2, are the tallest receivers on the roster.
Tolbert has a relationship with new Dolphins quarterback Malik Willis and that was a big factor in his decision, Jordan Schultz reported.
Bonner re-signs; 11 cornerbacks now signed
12:30 p.m. update: The Dolphins’ cornerback room continued to grow on Friday when Ethan Bonner – who had been an exclusive rights free agent – signed a one-year deal.
Miami’s cornerback room now has seven returnees (Bonner, Jason Marshall Jr., Juju Brents, Storm Duck, Jason Maitre, Isaiah Johnson and AJ Green) and four newcomers — former Titans starter Darrell Baker; ex-Arizona starter Marco Wilson and ex-Patriots backups Miles Battle and Alex Austin.
Undrafted out of Stanford in 2023, Bonner appeared in 14 games last season and 21 in his three-year Dolphins career. He played 90 defensive snaps last season and 117 in his career.
Potential starting guard added
8:45 a.m. update: After agreeing to terms with nine external free agents in recent days, the Dolphins a reached deal with potential offensive line starter Jamaree Salyer, according to two league sources. [The Dolphins announced the move shortly after 10 a.m.]
Salyer started 40 games for the Chargers over the past four seasons — 19 at left tackle and 21 at right guard — and becomes an immediate contender to start at guard for Miami.
The Chargers selected Salyer in the sixth round, 195th overall, out of Georgia in 2022 and he became a 14-game starter at left tackle as a rookie after Rashawn Slater sustained a season-ending injury in Week 3.
Salyer, 25, started 17 games for the Chargers in 2023, but made just four and five starts the past two seasons.
Last season, he played 250 snaps at left tackle, 157 at right guard and 42 at right tackle. Pro Football Focus graded him 61st of 89 tackles last season but said he has was the Chargers’ second-best pass blocking lineman in 2025, behind Joe Alt.
Most of his NFL work has come at left tackle (1295 snaps) and right guard, where he has logged 1561 snaps.
He has played only 24 snaps at left guard in the NFL but also played some there at Georgia.
Here was his snap count breakdown in his first three seasons, before last year:
In 2003: 988 snaps at left tackle (after Slater injury and none elsewhere). PFF ranked him 39th among tackles that guards.
In 2023: 1144 at right guard and no snaps at any other position. PFF ranked him 73rd at guard that season.
In 2024: 57 snaps at left tackle, 260 snaps at right guard, 24 at left guard and one snap at right tackle. PFF ranked him 57th at guard that season.
He started the 2021 Peach Bowl at left guard for Georgia, where he was a second-team All American in his final season (2021) and played all along the offensive line.
Salyer, who’s 6-4 and 325 pounds, grew up in Atlanta and attended Pace High there.
He joins Jonah Savaiinaea and Andrew Meyer as experienced guards on the roster; Miami is expected to try to augment the position in the draft process.
Besides competing at guard, Salyer also could potentially serve as the team’s No. 3 tackle behind Patrick Paul and Austin Jackson, depending on how the draft plays out.
He’s the first player to move from the Chargers to Dolphins this offseason after Alec Ingold and Cole Strange joined the Chargers, who hired Mike McDaniel as offensive coordinator and Butch Barry as offensive line coach.
This story was originally published March 13, 2026 at 8:51 AM.
Barry Jackson
Miami Herald
Barry Jackson has written for the Miami Herald since 1986 and has written the Florida Sports Buzz column since 2002.
