Even to football fans nationally, it’s no newsflash that Tyreek Hill and Bradley Chubb were released on Monday, players ironically tied at the hip as it relates to the Miami Dolphins team-building philosophy of the past. But the transaction of the day that was most eye-catching was not that of a cheetah or astronaut and certainly not a player who made headlines.
That distinction belongs to 2025 free agent signee, guard James Daniels. Yes, he of the three-play season.
THE RUMORS ON DANIELS
Reports emerged recently that Daniels — a player who suffered a pectoral injury three plays in of week one against the Colts – had rehabilitated his injury and was cleared to play by the Dolphins medical and training staff toward the end of last year.
As a reminder, last season was a mess on the right side of the offensive line due to injuries. First-string right tackle Austin Jackson missed 10 games with a toe injury while Cole Strange was signed in an effort to shore up the hole left by Daniels.
The difference here though is Jackson came back and played, reportedly foregoing surgery and playing hurt in the last five games. While his team was somewhat still in a playoff hunt, Daniels did spent his December and January where he spent the better part of the last two seasons — in a training room.
With a unit struggling, don’t think it went unnoticed in the Dolphins locker room.
THE STATEMENT
Despite what has been widely-held as a series of layoffs that were anticipated, one can’t imagine Daniels name was going to be on that list.
Hill was released because of money. Chubb will be released post-June 1 because of money. Nick Westbrook-Ikhine could have been released for any number of valid reasons, but why Daniels?
His contract wasn’t huge and he plays a position of great need for Miami.
General manager Jon-Eric Sullivan, the new captain of a cash-poor ship, decided to cut Daniels when doing so both got rid of a player at a position of need and added another $1 million to the cap the team otherwise wouldn’t have had to eat if it had kept him. Again, why?
Culture.
It was a cheap way to say to everybody who’s paying attention ‘that’s not the way it’s gonna happen here anymore. You aren’t getting paid to be in the training room.’
“Culture is everything. When you fall into the trap of bringing a bunch of guys in from all over the place, there is no standard. Everybody’s coming from a different standard. A team full of mercenaries is a scary place to be because everybody’s got a different agenda.” — Jon-Eric Sullivan
Check off another win for Sullivan sticking early on to what he said he was going to do when he got here:
Add size to the roster. Check. Most every player the Dolphins have signed under Sullivan has a noticeable size profile.
Build through the draft. To be determined, but he’s semi-privately saying that the team wants to add draft picks, so check.
Change the culture. To be determined, but don’t think cutting Daniels went unnoticed in the locker room. Again, for now, check.
QUICK NOTE ON THE 2026 DRAFT
ACDolphins.com is pretty new — so much so that it wasn’t around at this time last year.
Anyway, the note is that this is one time of the year this website can compete — draft time. Coming soon there will be draft stories and eventually, the 2026 Aqua & Coral Report Draft Guide. Currently, there are over 170 original player evals waiting for combine results to help take one final look at a prospect’s chances.
The difference between our draft coverage and others will be this — all takes have been generated in-house, by watching film and without the aid of other pundits or draft prognosticators opinions factoring in. This year will mark over 30 years since I unexpectedly got a call in college from then-Dolphins college scouting director Tom Heckert Sr. and I’ve been following his suggestions on how to evaluate since.
Finally, the evaluations posted here will ALL be made with the Miami Dolphins in mind. What the Dolphins need, what they seem to be looking for and which players fit their scheme and profile.
There will be players I list as “do not want” that others, and some of you, will love. Just keep in mind player evaluation is subjective. Anyway, hopefully you check back in and we can look back for a scorecard in a few years.
Thanks for reading this far and please check back in at draft time via the website and @AquaCoralRep on Twitter.
And feel free to ask any question about any player or anything else draft-related. I will do my best to have an educated answer and if I don’t, I won’t fake it.
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