Breaking Down the Addition of Punter Bradley Pinion

The Miami Dolphins added more experience for their special teams

Atlanta Falcons punter Bradley Pinion on the field during the game against the Washington Commanders at Mercedes-Benz Stadium during the 2025 season. | Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

The Miami Dolphins addressed their special teams again Thursday, and they went back to the Atlanta Falcons for help.

The Dolphins will be bringing in veteran punter Bradley Pinion, who will rejoin kicker Zane Gonzalez in Miami.

Pinion is much more likely to be on the roster in 2026 because his competition in camp will be former UFL punter Seth Vernon, while Gonzalez will have to beat out incumbent Riley Patterson fresh off setting a franchise record for field goal accuracy in a season after going 27-for-29.

One thing Pinion will have to do with the Dolphins, though, is change his number after wearing 13, which has been retired for 25 years.

Pinion joins the Dolphins after spending 11 seasons with the San Francisco 49ers, who made him a fifth-round pick out of Clemson in 2015, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and then the Falcons. He's got a 44-yard net career average with an impressive 40-yard net average.

He's coming off a productive 2025 season where he had 34 punts inside the 20 against only three touchbacks, a better than 11-to-1 ratio that was the fourth-best in the league.

Pinion also had kickoff experience and handled that role for a time with the Falcons last season before, ironically, Gonzalez came on the scene and took over that assignment.

The arrival of Pinion also means a Dolphins-Falcons punter swap because Jake Bailey left Miami this offseason for Atlanta when he signed a three-year contract and, of course, special teams coordinator Craig Aukerman also made the Miami-to-Atlanta move this offseason.

Barring additional moves, the Dolphins' set of specialists in 2026 will have Pinion as the punter, Patterson or Gonzalez as the kicker, and Tucker Addington as the long-snapper.

And, of course, the last team for which Patterson had kicked in a regular season game before he joined the Dolphins last year was, you guessed it, the Falcons.

THE MIAMI DOLPHINS 2026 FREE AGENCY SCORECARD (as of March 19)

Signed
QB Malik Willis (Green Bay)
WR Jalen Tolbert (Dallas)
WR Tutu Atwell (L.A. Rams)
TE Ben Sims (Minnesota)
T Charlie Heck (Tampa Bay)
G/T Jamaree Salyer (L.A. Chargers)
EDGE Josh Uche (Philadelphia)
EDGE Robert Beal Jr. (San Francisco)
CB Alex Austin (New England)
CB Marco Wilson (Cincinnati)
CB Darrell Baker Jr. (Tennessee)
S Lonnie Johnson Jr. (Las Vegas)
S Zayne Anderson (Green Bay)
K Zane Gonzalez (Atlanta)
P Bradley Pinion (Atlanta)
P Seth Vernon
LS Tucker Addington

Re-signed
TE Greg Dulcich
DT Matthew Butler
EDGE Cameron Goode
LB Willie Gay Jr.
CB Ethan Bonner
CB A.J. Green III
K Riley Patterson

Signed with another team
QB Tua Tagovailoa (Atlanta)
FB Alec Ingold (L.A. Chargers)
TE Julian Hill (New England)
G Cole Strange (L.A. Chargers)
T Larry Borom (Detroit)
EDGE Bradley Chubb (Buffalo)
CB Kader Kohou (Kansas City)
DB Elijah Campbell (N.Y. Giants)
K Jason Sanders (N.Y. Giants)
P Jake Bailey (Atlanta)
LS Joe Cardona (L.A. Rams)

Traded
WR Jaylen Waddle (Denver)
S Minkah Fitzpatrick (N.Y. Jets)