Dolphins’ Hafley addresses kicker change, injuries and several personnel moves

Coach Jeff Hafley said the Dolphins’ decision to replace kicker Riley Patterson with Zane Gonzalez wasn’t intended as a message to the team after an 0-5 start.

Read more LeBron James makes 76ers home debut against his hometown Cavaliers

“It was a switch we made that was best for where we’re at,” Hafley said. “We felt bringing in Zane was best for our team. Zane did a great job in camp.”

Hafley declined to say whether the decision was fueled more by a desire for more touchbacks or a desire for more consistency on long field goals.

In his career, Gonzalez is 18 of 28 from 50 yards-plus on field goals, and 52.5 percent of his kickoffs have been touchbacks. Patterson is 7 for 14 on 50-plus field goals, and has a 36.3% touchback rate.

Hafley suggested Monday that the Dolphins hoped to kick the ball out of the end zone on kickoffs in the Week 5 loss to Cincinnati. But Patterson failed to execute it.

Gonzalez was signed to the practice squad but can be elevated for the next three games before the team must decide whether to put him on the 53-man roster. Patterson’s spot on the 53 was filled by rookie edge player Rodney McGraw.

Gonzalez, 31, signed with the Dolphins in March and competed with Patterson during the offseason before sustaining an injury midway through training camp. He was placed on injured reserve and released with an injury settlement on Aug. 19.

Last season, in nine games for Atlanta, Gonzalez connected on 19 of 22 field goals and 17 of 18 extra points. He will reunite with Dolphins special teams coordinator Chris Tabor, who coached Gonzalez in Cleveland and Carolina.

Patterson departs after missing two of his nine field goal attempts and one of his nine extra point attempts this season.

The Dolphins signed Gonzalez after auditioning five kickers on Tuesday: Gonzalez, former Ravens seven-time Pro Bowl kicker Justin Tucker, former Miami Hurricanes/Colts/Chargers kicker Michael Badgley, former Rams kicker Joshua Karty and former BYU and Boise State kicker Will Ferrin.

Sixteen women—all massage therapists from eight different spas—have accused Tucker of sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior during sessions that took place between 2012 and 2016. Asked his position about auditioning or signing players facing off-field allegations, Hafley said he did not want to get into that.

On Sunday against the Jets, Miami will face longtime former Dolphins kicker Jason Sanders, who was released by the Dolphins in March. Sanders, who spent last season on injured reserve for the Dolphins, is 12 for 13 on field goals and 8 for 9 on extra points in his first year with New York.

Read more These 6 Big Ten college basketball home-court advantages rank in our Top 25

Hafley addressed other issues on Wednesday:

▪ The Dolphins will open rookie safety Kyle Louis’ 21-day practice window on Wednesday. Hafley said it’s not yet clear if he will be ready to play Sunday at the Jets (1 p.m., CBS-4). Louis has been on injured reserve since sustaining an MCL sprain in the opener against Las Vegas.

Cornerback Darrell Baker remains on PUP and his practice window will not be opened this week. Safety Ronnie Harrison, who’s on injured reserve, also will not practice this week.

▪ Receiver Caleb Douglas — who has missed the past three games with an ankle injury — will practice on Wednesday, but Hafley indicated it was too soon to know if he will be activated for Sunday’s game.

“My expectations can’t be too high,” Hafley said. “We have to see him practice today and tomorrow… He has a big impact on our offense. He was a big bright spot early on. We were counting on him.”

▪ The decision to move on from cornerback Storm Duck, who was released off PUP, was based largely on wanting to invest in the young cornerbacks already on Miami’s roster — Chris Johnson, Jason Marshall Jr., JuJu Brents, Marcellas Dial Jr., Reese Taylor and Jaylin Simpson, who made a big play on a third down late in Miami’s Week 5 loss to Cincinnati.

“We have guys [here] we want to see and coach,” Hafley said. “It wasn’t really about Storm. It was the guys we had here. You have to make hard decisions like that.”

▪ Hafley said the 2-4 Jets “are better than their record shows. They can stop the run. They have really good edge rushers…. They’ve got two really good backs, one of the premium receivers in the league in Garrett [Wilson].”

▪ On undrafted rookie McGraw being signed to the 53, Hafley said: “We didn’t know much about him when he got here. You see this big strong guy hitting the bag. He just hadn’t played a lot. You give a lot of credit to [defensive line/edge coach] Austin Clark and the d-line guys.”

▪ New receiver Jared Wayne, who replaced Ryan Miller on the 53-man roster, was on Houston’s practice squad when Dolphins offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik was the Texas’ offensive coordinator.

“He’s got some experience,” Hafley said. “He’s got good size to him [6-3]. Bobby has experience with him [in Houston]. Sully [general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan] has done a good job of continuing to churn through the roster and see if we can find more guys to help us. Him and his staff have done a really good job trying to find players like that.”

Wayne spent parts of four seasons with the Texans and has six receptions for 85 yards in nine career games and four starts, including three starts earlier this season before Houston waived him.

Read more Former football player turned tragedy into a new mission

This story was originally published October 21, 2026 at 12:54 PM.