{"id":789293,"date":"2026-03-03T15:30:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T15:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/789293\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T15:30:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T15:30:15","slug":"dolphins-free-agent-watch-edge-rusher-de-olb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/789293\/","title":{"rendered":"Dolphins free agent watch: Edge rusher\/DE\/OLB"},"content":{"rendered":"

Call the job whatever you\u2019d like \u2014 edge rusher, defensive end, outside linebacker. The bottom line is the Dolphins<\/a>, who plan to utilize both 4-3 and 3-4 looks defensively, are hopelessly deficient in this area. Woefully deficient.<\/p>\n

Free agency begins March 11 (a week from Wednesday), and the cash-strapped Dolphins<\/a> can\u2019t afford the top pass-rushing talent. Heck, they might not be able to afford mid-level pass-rushing talent.<\/p>\n

The Dolphins<\/a> had a franchise-record 56 sacks in 2023, but dipped to 35 in 2024 before posting 39 sacks in 2025, which was tied for 15th in the league.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Miami primarily returns edge rusher Chop Robinson, the 2024 first-round pick who had 6.0 sacks as a rookie and just 4.0 sacks last season, and little-used Derrick McLendon, who has played in just one game in his brief career.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Potential free agent reserves such as Quinton Bell and Cameron Goode would be low\u2013cost players, but they don\u2019t have experience as starters and, frankly, might not be starting caliber.<\/p>\n

Miami, under the direction of general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan and coach Jeff Hafley, must figure out how to re-stock its pass rushing cupboard with enough talent to get through this season while also planning for the future.<\/p>\n

First-year defensive coordinator Sean Duggan\u2019s pass-rushing prototype isn\u2019t yet known but it\u2019s safe to say the Dolphins will seek all types of budget-friendly defensive end\/edge rusher\/outside linebacker talent \u2014 standup guys, hand-in-the-dirt guys, pass-rushing specialists, edge-setting specialists, etc.<\/p>\n

Many of the Dolphins\u2019 new defensive coaches don\u2019t have a lot of NFL experience, so drawing lines between those coaches and their former players doesn\u2019t offer much insight into who Miami might pursue on the free agent market.<\/p>\n

A few of the acquisitions at this position will likely be draftees and unsigned rookie free agents.<\/p>\n

Here are a few names (mostly aging players) to keep in mind for free agency:<\/p>\n

Kwity Paye, Indianapolis<\/p>\n

Paye, 27, is a six-year veteran who can play the run or the pass. The 2021 first-round pick by the Colts had a nice three-year stretch between 2022-24 in which he had 6.0 sacks, 8.5 sacks and 8.0 sacks, respectively. Paye has made 74 starts in 75 career games and averages 47 tackles and 7.0 sacks per season. He counted $13.3 million against the salary cap last season on his fifth-year option.<\/p>\n

A.J. Epenesa, Buffalo<\/p>\n

Epenesa, 27, is a seven-year veteran who had 2.5 sacks in 16 games for the Bills last season. Epenesa, a 2020 second-round pick by Buffalo, is low key but consistent, totaling 6.5 sacks in 2022, 6.5 in 2023 and 6.0 in 2024 before his dip last season. He\u2019s made 19 starts in 91 career games and also has four interceptions (one returned for a touchdown), five forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries and a safety. He counted $7.4 million against the salary cap last season.<\/p>\n

Al-Quadin Muhammad, Detroit<\/p>\n

Muhammad, 30, had a career-best 11.0 sacks with Detroit last season. Prior to that, Muhammad, an eight-year veteran who was a sixth-round pick by New Orleans in 2017, never had more than 6.0 sacks in a season. He\u2019s been a durable, low-key rotational player in his career. Plus, Muhammad, the former University of Miami player, has Drew Rosenhaus as his agent, and Rosenhaus works well with the Dolphins. He counted $1.1 million against the salary cap last season.<\/p>\n

Kingsley Enagbare, Green Bay<\/p>\n

Enagbare, 26, is a four-year veteran who has 21 starts in 68 career games. He\u2019s better against the run than the pass, averaging 36 tackles and 3.0 sacks per year. Enagbare, a fifth-round pick by the Packers in 2022, spent the last two years with Hafley, and his entire four-year career with Sullivan in Green Bay. Enagbare counted $3.4 million against the salary cap last season.<\/p>\n

K\u2019Lavon Chaisson, New England<\/p>\n

Chaisson, 26, is a six-year veteran who hasn\u2019t come close to fulfilling projections as a 2020 first-round pick by Jacksonville, but has experienced a measure of success the last two years in Las Vegas (5.0 sacks) and New England (7.5 sacks). He only has 25 starts in 88 career games with a career-best 10 starts with the Patriots last year. Chaisson counted $3.9 million against the salary cap last season.<\/p>\n

Joey Bosa, Buffalo<\/p>\n

Bosa, 30, is a 10-year veteran who probably has no desire to be part of a rebuild, but the allure for the former St. Thomas Aquinas star could be playing in his hometown. Bosa, who averages 10.7 sacks per season but hasn\u2019t had a double-digit sack total since 10.5 sacks in 2021, is aging and would be a rotational player. This would be a hometown favor for both Bosa and the Dolphins. Bosa counted $5.3 million against the salary cap last season.<\/p>\n

Haason Reddick, Tampa Bay<\/p>\n

Reddick, 31, is a nine-year veteran who had a strong four-year run between 2020-23, but wasn\u2019t very impressive before that and hasn\u2019t been impressive since. Reddick, the 2017 first-round pick by Arizona, followed his 11-sack Pro Bowl season of 2023 with Philadelphia with a contract dispute, a 1.0-sack, 10-game performance for the New York Jets in 2024, and a 2.5-sack, 12-game performance for Tampa Bay in 2025. Reddick counted $13.5 million against the salary cap last season.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Call the job whatever you\u2019d like \u2014 edge rusher, defensive end, outside linebacker. The bottom line is the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":789294,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2048],"tags":[215,214,53,2086,7,929,251,6,9],"class_list":{"0":"post-789293","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-buffalo-bills","8":"tag-bills","9":"tag-buffalo","10":"tag-buffalo-bills","11":"tag-buffalobills","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-latest-headlines","14":"tag-miami-dolphins","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116165962932972329","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=789293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/789294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=789293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=789293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=789293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}