Dolphins Make Decision on Quinton Bell

The outside linebacker was a training camp sensation last year before playing all 17 games

Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua (17) is tackled by Miami Dolphins linebacker Quinton Bell (56) in the second half at SoFi Stadium. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Miami Dolphins have made their first decision on one of their three restricted free agents, and they're ready to let Quinton Bell move on.

The team has decided not to extend a qualifying offer to the outside linebacker, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter, and that will make him an unrestricted free agent when the 2025 league year kicks off Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET.

Afte spending the second half of the 2023 season on the Dolphins practice squad, Bell earned a spot on the 53-man roster last year after he shined in training camp. He went on to play 17 games with three starts, and finished with 27 tackles and his first career sack. That sack was against Matthew Stafford in the Dolphins' 23-15 victory against the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium in the Monday night game in November.

This move wasn't surprise. We even predicted it last week when we wrote about the pending RFAs.

"While defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver often praised Bell last season, the Dolphins have a lot of options at the edge defender spot, so there's no reason to commit any kind of significant amount of money and cap space for Bell," is what we wrote. "His salary for 2024 was $985,000 and the best guess is the Dolphins don't make a qualifying tender. If they do, it would be for ROFR only."

Bell will become the third Dolphins outside linebacker on the free agent market next week, along with veterans Emmanuel Ogbah and Tyus Bowser.

The Dolphins retained Cameron Goode when they tendered him as an exclusive-rights free agent this week.

THE OTHER DOLPHINS RESTRICTED FREE AGENTS

Along with Bell, the other two Dolphins restricted free agents are cornerback Kader Kohou and wide receiver Anthony Schwartz.

Restricted free agents are players who can sign offer sheets with other teams but the Dolphins can match any offer if they extended a qualifying tender.

There are realistically four types of tenders, all of which give the Dolphins the opportunity to match an offer sheet, buthere are the official amounts with the compensation involved if they declined to do so:

-- A first-round tender would guarantee the player at 2025 salary of $7.5 million and make the compensation a first-round pick

-- A second-round tender will be $5.3 million

-- A tender for the original round in which the player was selected will be $3.4 million

-- A tender for only the right of first refusal but no compensation will be $3.3 million

The Dolphins don't have to extend qualifying tenders to any of their restricted free agents and still could re-sign them, but they also could sign with another team with Miami having no right to match.

In 2024, the Dolphins had two pending RFAs, but they ended up re-signing both Robert Jones and Elijah Campbell before the start of the league year.

Kohou is coming off a very nice 2024 season for the Dolphins, highlighted by his clutch interception in the December victory against the San Francisco 49ers. Because of Kendall Fuller's contract, age and 2024 injuries, plus the lack of other proven alternatives, Kohou is somebody the Dolphins really need to bring back. Unless the two sides negotiate a low-term deal, a second-round tender would seem to make sense here unless the Dolphins don't want to go that high and give themselves only the right of first refusal.

Schwartz spent the 2024 season on IR, he's still an unproven commodity as an NFL wide receiver and the Dolphins already have young options at the position, so there's zero reason to extend a tender.

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