After cutting ties with David Long Jr. last year and allowing Anthony Walker Jr. to depart in free agency, the Miami Dolphins hoped one of three veteran linebackers — Tyrel Dodson, Willie Gay Jr., or K.J. Britt — would emerge as a reliable starter alongside Jordyn Brooks.
Through a week of training camp, it seems there’s a clear answer.
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Gay, a 27-year-old former Super Bowl starter with the Kansas City Chiefs, signed with the Dolphins earlier this year on a one-year, $1.34 million deal. So far, he’s looked like a player much more valuable than that.
The Kansas City Chiefs drafted Gay in the second round of the 2020 NFL draft and he started 55 regular season games and nine playoff games — including a pair of Super Bowls — in four seasons with the team. But a one-year, $3 million deal with the New Orleans Saints produced lackluster results in 2024.
“Like Week 11, man, I kind of clocked out, because I was like, ‘Bro, I’m playing 10 snaps a game,” Gay told reporters Monday. “I was just like, ‘Forget it.'”
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After a change of scenery, Gay is ready to reintroduce himself in Miami.
“You learn the playbook, you do what the coaches ask of you to do,” Gay said. “You do your job man, you’re going to make a lot of plays. That’s just this game in general. That’s all I’ve been doing, trying to do the best of my ability, so that’s all.”
His teammates have noticed, too.
“He’s all over the place, man,” Dolphins outside linebacker Bradley Chubb said Monday. “He flies around. He’s a Super Bowl champ. So I always tell him, man, we need that Super Bowl DNA. Whatever bits and crumbs you got for us, man, we need it.”
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This article originally appeared on Dolphins Wire: Dolphins training camp: LB Willie Gay Jr. standing out in practice