What to Make of Dolphins Cutting James Daniels

While the Miami Dolphins’ release of Bradley Chubb and Tyreek Hill will dominate Monday’s news cycle, the team made a few other cuts, too.

The next most prominent name on the chopping block was right guard James Daniels, who the team released Monday, per multiple national reports. Daniels spent just one year with the Dolphins after signing a three-year, $24 million deal with the Dolphins this summer.

His release will save the Dolphins roughly $1.1 million against the cap and incur a dead cap hit of $4.8 million this season if it's designated as a pre-June 1 cut, according to Over The Cap.

If the Dolphins designate him as a post-June 1 cut, they would save $2.4 million and have a dead cap charge of $1.2 million. Technically, we don't know which (if any) of the cuts Miami made today are post-June 1 designations, but the team only gets two.

Post-June 1 cuts cannot become official until the start of the new league year March 11.

Daniels’ Rough 2025 Season Made This Obvious

Daniels’ Dolphins tenure ends after he played just three snaps for the team. He suffered a pectoral injury early in Miami’s Week 1 loss to the Indianapolis Colts and never returned.

It was a strange storyline all season because former head coach Mike McDaniel was pretty consistent about Daniels returning at some point during the 2025 season, this after saying it was a tough decision to put Daniels on injured reserve in the first place because the initial target date for his return was right around the four-week mark. McDaniel then was asked for an update about Daniels every week and was mostly positive.

However, toward the end of the season, McDaniel started to sound less encouraged by Daniels’ possible return to action. When he was asked about whether Daniels suffered a setback, McDaniel said that wasn’t it.

We might never be 100% sure why Daniels never returned, but it’s odd to see a team say a player will return, maintain that the player didn’t have a setback, and then not see that player get back into the lineup.

Whatever happened behind the scenes, Daniels’ signing was a disaster for the Dolphins. He was added as a veteran presence upfront to finally clean up Miami’s long-standing guard need.

That worked for three plays before the team had to turn to Kion Smith, Daniel Brunskill and ultimately Cole Strange. Strange had some nice moments, but he was pretty brutal overall.

Of course, many will point out that Daniels was coming off a torn Achilles tendon suffered early in the 2024 season. It’s fair to mention that, but a pectoral injury is about as far away from an Achilles as you can get.

Sometimes, you just get unlucky, and that’s what happened to the Dolphins and Daniels.

Where Does This Leave Guard?

Guard has been a problem in Miami for a long time, and it will be that way again this offseason. Daniels left a hole on the right side when he got injured, and rookie second-round pick Jonah Savaiinaea had an awful season on the left side.

You could argue Miami needs to add at least two guards this offseason with some starting potential. The Dolphins don’t figure to be huge free agency spenders, so it’ll likely be some fringe backups or a draft pick.

It makes sense to give Savaiinaea a starting spot, but the team should have some type of hedge in case he doesn’t show some progress.

Savaiinaea is the team’s only guard under contract for next season, so it’ll have to add bodies there regardless.

Another Free Agent Signing From Last Offseason Is Cut

Along with cutting Daniels, Chubb and Hill, Miami also released wide receiver Nick Westbrook-Ikhine on Monday.

Like Daniels, NWI signed with the team last summer on a two-year, $5.9 million deal with no guaranteed money past the 2025 season. His cut will save the team $1.5, according to Over The Cap.

NWI was a disaster for the Dolphins this past season. He finished the season with 11 catches for 89 yards and zero touchdowns.

His blocking was passable, but it wasn’t good enough to justify his struggles in the passing game. He just wasn’t a good fit for Miami’s quick-hitting offense that asked him to run short timing routes.

He was essentially replaced by Cedrick Wilson in the middle of the season, making NWI another failed signing from last year’s brutal class.

Cutting Daniels and NWI are small steps toward fixing the mistakes of the last regime, and there’s no time like the present to start.

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