Tough Times for Young Former Dolphins Players

Three young players who got off to encouraging NFL starts with the Miami Dolphins suddenly found themselves without a team this offseason

It really wasn't that long ago that Preston Williams, Lynn Bowden Jr. and Solomon Kindley were viewed as intriguing young players with a promising future for the Miami Dolphins.

Now, all three are at a crossroads, left without a team after recently getting released even though the offseason program isn't even over yet.

The latest to find himself looking for a job in the NFL was Williams, released this week by the Carolina Panthers. That followed Kindley being let go by the New York Giants and Bowden being released by the New England Patriots.

A BAD YEAR FOR SOLOMON KINDLEY, LYNN BOWDEN JR. AND PRESTON WILLIAMS

All three young players were with the Dolphins at this time last year, looking to build on what they already had shown.

All three of them were gone by Aug. 30, the day the team made its roster cuts to get down to the 53-player limit for the regular season.

From there, Kindley hooked up with the New York Giants, Williams with the Panthers and Bowden with the Patriots — but all of them as practice squad players.

Their cumulative contributions for the 2022 regular season were two games, one each by Bowden and Williams, and 23 snaps (14 for Bowden, nine for Williams).

This is not the way most would have predicted things to unfold after Kindley started 11 games as a rookie in 2020; Williams started seven games in each of his first two seasons in 2020 and 2021 before being sidelined by injuries each time; and Bowden caught 28 passes and had nine carries as an all-purpose offensive player in 2020 after arriving as a rookie third-round in a trade with the Raiders.

These were not players without flaws, to be sure, and they likely were hurt by the coaching staff the Dolphins made in 2022 from Brian Flores to Mike McDaniel, but there was enough ability with all three of them that seeing them currently out of the league really is an eye-opening development.

It's also a cautionary tale about how quickly things can change in the NFL and something for fans to remember the next time they find themselves getting enamored with a young player based on his potential.

In the meantime, here's hoping that all three of them can find a new team sooner rather than later.