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The Book on New Dolphins DT Justin Zimmer

The Miami Dolphins filled their one opening on their 53-man roster

The Miami Dolphins filled their one roster opening Wednesday when they signed defensive tackle Justin Zimmer, who played for the AFC East rival Buffalo Bills in the NFL and with new teammate Zach Sieler at Ferris State.

Zimmer becomes the fifth defensive lineman on the roster, joining Sieler, Christian Wilkins, Raekwon Davis and John Jenkins. He filled the opening created when the Dolphins placed Emmanuel Ogbah on injured reserve with the triceps injury he sustained in the Week 10 victory against the Cleveland Browns.

A veteran of 21 NFL games over the four previous seasons, Zimmer was last on the Bills practice squad working his way back from a knee injury that landed him on injured reserve last November, a little less than a month after he had been signed to the active roster.

Zimmer had been elevated from the practice squad twice by the Bills last year before he joined the active roster, and one of those two games was against the Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium in Week 2.

In that game, a 35-0 Buffalo victory, Zimmer recorded his second career sack. His first came in 2020 against Kyler Murray of the Arizona Cardinals in the Hail Mary loss.

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ZIMMER'S NFL RESUME AND SCOUTING REPORT

Prior to joining the Bills in 2020, Zimmer appeared in one game for the Atlanta Falcons in 2018 and two games with the Cleveland Browns in 2019.

The scouting report out of Buffalo is that Zimmer is a good athlete as an interior defensive lineman. He's best suited for an interior lineman role, so he shouldn't be seen as a replacement for Ogbah.

Instead, we'd still expect to see veteran Brennan Scarlett elevated from the practice squad soon rather than later to play that 4-3 defensive end role.

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