The Miami Dolphins are thin at edge defender to start the 2026 offseason, so the new regime is bringing back one of the team’s own.
Outside linebacker Cameron Goode has re-signed with the Dolphins, the team announced Wednesday afternoon.
Goode appeared in all 17 games for Miami last season, recording seven tackles and a pass defensed, along with a whopping 15 stops on special teams.
Former special teams coordinator Craig Aukerman, at the end of last season, named him first when asked for a most improved player on his unit throughout the course of 2025.
“This is a guy that was hurt last year that I felt like, during the offseason, training camp did a really good job of just understanding what we were trying to accomplish knowing his role wasn’t going to be much on defense at the beginning of the season,” Aukerman said. “So, hey, let’s really focus in on special teams and let’s be the best player that you can possibly be there. I think he’s really taken advantage of that opportunity to lead us in tackles.”
Aukerman has been replaced in that role by Chris Tabor, who still obviously believes in Goode to bring him back in 2026.
Former defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver, who also left the Dolphins amid the change from ex-coach Mike McDaniel to new coach Jeff Hafley, also raved about Goode defensively by season’s end.
“Two things about him,” Weaver said. “He’s going to be where he needs to be, doing what he needs to do, and he’s going to play with his hair on fire. And you feel that when you watch the tape.”
Goode was originally a seventh-round pick of the Dolphins in 2022. He spent that first season out of California on the practice squad. He then carved out a role on special teams in 2023, but a knee injury suffered in the regular-season finale created a lengthy rehab that only allowed him to play in the final three games of the 2024 season before a bounce-back 2025.
Aside from Goode, the only other edge defender from last season’s active roster currently signed for 2026 is 2024 first-round pick Chop Robinson.
Miami has communicated to fellow outside linebacker Bradley Chubb that he will be released. At last season’s trade deadline, Jaelan Phillips was dealt to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Quinton Bell, also a key special teams contributor like Goode, is a free agent. The new regime can also give Derrick McLendon, a practice squad player last season, a shot to compete for a roster spot.