Examining the Reasonable Waiver Wire Expectations for the Dolphins (With the Sieler Exception)

The Miami Dolphins already have been busy on the waiver wire, with wide receiver Ryan Miller becoming the fifth such acquisition this year when he was claimed from the New York Giants this week.

Because they're in rebuilding mode with an eye toward finding potential future contributors, the Dolphins likely will be making additional waiver claims throughout the year, starting with those Monday morning after teams get down to the NFL-mandate 53-player limit Sunday at 4 p.m. ET.

The Dolphins already have produced their highest total of waiver wire claims since 2021 when they also had five, and it's not ridiculous to suggest they could come close to the whopping total of 20 in 2019 when the team also was undergoing a roster transformation.

Thiis what happens when you overhaul the roster by dumping high-priced veterans in favor of low-cost alternatives in the hopes of finding hidden gems and often realizing it's time to look for another hidden gem.

The natural instinct whenever a player gets waived is to examine whether the Dolphins will or should put in a claim, though we should understand they most definitely have a type in 2026. That means not everybody makes sense.

The hope is the Dolphins can land the kind of gem they found in that 2019 season when they plucked Zach Sieler from the Baltimore Ravens after they cut him with the hope of re-signing him to their practice squad.

The Dolphins have hit to a lesser extent on other waiver claims more recently, including Tyrel Dodson in 2024 and possibly JuJu Brents in 2025 (if he can manage to stay healthy).

But those are exceptions to the rule, and it should be noted that both Sieler and Dodson were waived in the middle of the season after once being on the 53 instead of not getting on the 53 at all.

Remember, waiver wire claims are players their previous team deemed unworthy of a spot on the 53. They're clearly not clean prospects, otherwise they'd still be on their previous team.

Already this year, the Dolphins have moved on from two of their waiver claims, Ester and Harvey. And the feeling here is that it's way more likely than not that Franklin, Miller and McMillan also will be gone from the active roster by the end of the weekend.

The overriding point is that teams and fans always should be hopeful that any player claimed off waivers can make a significant impact, whether immediate or not, but expectations should be kept at a reasonable level.

And we have the data to back this up.

THE DOLPHINS' PAST 15 YEARS OF WAIVER WIRE CLAIMS

Based on my research, the Dolphins claimed a total of 87 players between 2010 and 2025, an average of 5.5 per year.

Of those 87 players, only 20 wound up starting at least one game for the Dolphins: TE Mickey Shuler Jr., T Will Yeatman, CB R.J. Stanford, CB Dimitri Patterson, DE Avery Moss, CB Ken Webster, S Steven Parker, LB Trent Harris, DE Taco Charlton, G Keaton Sutherland, CB Ryan Lewis, CB Ken Crawley, WR Mack Hollins, Sieler obviously, T Adam Pankey, RB Salvon Ahmed, DB Elijah Campbell, Dodson, most recently Brents and Matthew Butler.

By contrast to the 20 who started at least one game, 33 never appeared in a regular season game for Miami.

Of those 20 players with at least one start, Sieler and Dodson are the only two to have started at least 10 games for Miami, though Brents very well could join him this year.

The total number of starts among the 87 players claimed off waivers over the past 16 years is 157 and Sieler has more than half of that total with his 82 regular season starts for Miami.

The big year for waiver wire claims, of course, was 2019 when the Dolphins were rebuilding, resetting or tanking depending on how you view it and they kept churning the roster in the hopes of finding some hidden gems.

The Dolphins claimed 20 players off waivers that year, but only two have had even moderate success in the NFL — Sieler and wide receiver Mack Hollins.

Because of their situation, though, the Dolphins wound up employing and starting a lot of those players, which skewed their overall waiver wire numbers of the past 20 years.

Take out 2019, which was an abnormal year in every sense of the word, and the 15 other years produced 67 waiver wire pick-ups and those players combined for 276 games for the Miami (an average of 4.1 per player) and only 40 starts.

So, again, hope for the best when the Dolphins get a player off waivers this week or any point this season, but don't automatically assume the move will pay off.

DOLPHINS WAIVER WIRE PICK-UPS BY YEAR

The year-by-year rundown of Dolphins waiver wire pick-ups with the number of players acquired that way, the total number of games played for the Dolphins through 2025, and the number of starts also through 2025

2026 — DT James Ester, CB Ahmari Harvey, TE Jeremiah Franklin, CB Jai'Onte' McMillan, WR Ryan Miller

2025 — CB JuJu Brents, DT Matthew Butler, CB Ryan Cooper Jr.
3 players, 15 total games, 3 starts

2024 — WR Grant DuBose, LB Tyrel Dodson, TE Jack Stoll
3 players, 15 total games, 3 starts

2023 — WR Freddie Swain
1 player, 0 games

2022 — T Geron Christian
1 player, 0 games

2021 — DB Trill Williams, DB Elijah Campbell, DE Darius Hodge, RB Philip Lindsay, LB Calvin Munson
5 players, 64 total games, 3 starts

2020 — CB Javaris Davis, DT Ray Smith, DB Picasso Nelson Jr., G Nate Wieting, CB Breon Borders, S Jermiah Denson, RB Salvon Ahmed
7 players, 31 total games, 4 starts

2019 — CB Tae Hayes, T Adam Pankey, DE Zach Sieler, WR Mack Hollins, RB Zach Zenner, WR Trevor Davis, WR Gary Jennings, CB Ken Crawley, CB Xavier Crawford, CB Ryan Lewis, G Keaton Sutherland, DE Taco Charlton, LB James Crawford, LB Trent Harris, DB Steven Parker, CB Ken Webster, LB Deon Lacey, DE Avery Moss, G Will Holden, WR Saeed Blacknall
20 players, 195 total games, 100 starts

2018 — QB Bryce Petty, QB Luke Falk, TE Tanner McEvoy, CB Dee Delaney
4 players, 2 total games, 0 starts

2017 — K Cody Parkey, LB Justin March-Lillard, T Avery Young, TE A.J. Derby, CB Trae Elston
5 players, 24 total games, 0 starts

2016 — CB Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, DT Chris Jones, WR Justin Hunter, CB Bene Benwikere, DE Nick Williams, T Bryce Harris
6 players, 13 total games, 0 starts

2015 — G Donald Hawkins, WR Cobi Hamilton, WR Kevin Cone, QB Logan Thomas, DE Damontre Moore, DE Quinton Coples
6 players, 6 total games, 0 starts

2014 — CB Brandion Ross, CB Sammy Seamster, DT Bruce Gaston, DB Don Jones II
4 players, 6 total games, 0 starts

2013 — WR Marvin McNutt, TE Evan Rodriguez, FB Tyler Clutts, DB Jalil Brown, CB Christopher Owens
5 players, 5 total games, 0 starts

2012 — WR Anthony Armstrong, CB R.J. Stanford, LB Sammy Brown, DB Troy Nolan, DB Brandon McDonald, TE Kyle Miller, WR Armon Binns, CB Dimitri Patterson
8 players, 37 total games, 7 starts

2011 — T Will Yeatman, RB Steve Slaton
2 players, 18 total games, 2 starts

2010 — DE Clifton Geathers, OL Jermey Parnell, OL Joe Reitz, DE Robert Rose, TE Mickey Shuler Jr., T Patrick Brown, CB Nate Ness
7 players, 10 total games, 2 starts

TOTAL (2010-25): 87 players, 487 total games, 157 starts

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