The Lowdown on the Dolphins Practice Squad

The Miami Dolphins filled out their practice squad Sunday — actually, they overfilled it.

Let us explain.

The Dolphins ended up signing 17 players to their practice squad because they had two players who do not count against the 16-player limit.

One is Durval Queiroz, who gets an exemption because of his international practice player status.

The other is wide receiver Antonio Callaway, who officially has been suspended by the NFL. While the NFL transactions log didn't provide a length for the suspension, NFL Network reported it's for seven games.

The other 15 include 12 players who were waived by the Dolphins, along with two other familiar faces — quarterback Jake Rudock and cornerback Javaris Davis, who was in training camp this summer.

The two newcomers are defensive back Brian Cole, a rookie seventh-round pick from Mississippi State, and defensive lineman Nick Coe, a rookie free agent from Auburn.

The dozen players brought back after being waived Saturday are RB Salvon Ahmed, WR Matt Cole, DB Tae Hayes, DB Nate Holley, T Jonathan Hubbard, LB Kylan Johnson, DT Benito Jones, WR Kirk Merritt, TE Chris Myarick, DE Tyshun Render and CB Ken Webster.

Callaway is a talented alum of Booker T. Washington in Miami and the University of Florda, but he's run into off-the-field issues in the NFL.

Callaway was a fourth-round pick of the Browns in 2018 and had 43 catches in 16 games (with 11 starts) in 2018, He was released last November, one day before the NFL assessed his second suspension of the year for violating the league's substance-abuse policy.

Browns Digest Publisher Pete Smith offered this assessment of Callaway:

"Antonio Callaway came into the league with a troubling track record and zero reason to trust he could stay out of trouble. He managed to be functional his rookie year and showcased the talent that made it easy to see what GM John Dorsey saw in him. He's explosive, strong and is impressive after the catch. Callaway made some big plays while talking about changes off the field. After an impressive rookie year, many people were hoping to see him build on it. Unfortunately, the issues that plagued him in college with drugs reared their head in the NFL. Still just 23 years old, if Callaway can be reliable off the field and be more consistent on it, he could be an asset at wide receiver."

Cole, a safety from Mississippi State, was released by the Minnesota Vikings this weekend.

Cole has an interesting back story, as chronicled by Will Ragatz of Inside the Vikings, and it has him going from the University of Michigan to Last Chance U. before ending up at Mississippi State.

Coe was released by New England in mid-August after signing with them as a rookie free agent. Coe's career at Auburn peaked in 2018 when he had seven sacks and 13.5 tackles loss, but those numbers went to zero sacks and three tackles for loss last season.

Davis is another former Auburn player. He had a brief stay with the Dolphins early in training camp before being waived with a non-football injury designation.

We profiled Davis when he first joined the Dolphins, starting with the fact he's the cousin of former Miami first-round pick Vontae Davis.

As for Rudock, his addition to the practice squad easily could have been predicted after the Dolphins waived fellow quarterback Josh Rosen.

Rudock spent all of last season on the Dolphins practice squad and obviously has familiarity with the team.