Dolphins' OTA takeaways, outlook to training camp Part VI: Specialists

On July 21, rookies will report to Miami Dolphins training camp, and a week later, the veterans will join them. Over the last several weeks, Dolphins Wire has looked at position areas to preview what to expect during camp, and this part will focus on special teams.

Kicker Competition

Keeping with a theme that new general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan and first-year head coach Jeff Hafley seem to be setting for the Dolphins, competition will take place in most rooms. Riley Patterson hopes to continue his career with the Dolphins after a record-setting 2025 in accuracy for the franchise, which will try to out-kick veteran Zane Gonzalez during the summer.

Patterson has journeyed around the league, seeing several battles, and has gotten on the field with five different teams before finding his footing last season with the Dolphins. Taking over for an injured Jason Sanders, Patterson was outstanding and converted 27 of his 29 attempts for a team record 93.1% seasonal output. He kicked his second game-winner of his career in overtime against the Washington Commanders in Madrid, Spain, in Week 11.

He will be 27 once the season begins and will try to hold off Gonzalez during camp, who arguably has a stronger leg than him. Throughout his career, Patterson has hit seven of his 13 attempts from 50 or more yards, yet he was able to convert three out of four attempts from that distance in 2025. He was 11-for-11 in kicks from 40-49 yards.

Gonzalez has spent time with five NFL teams and was signed by the Dolphins in the offseason to compete with Patterson. The 31-year-old has hit 18 out of his 28 career attempts from 50 or more yards out and has an overall career percentage of 81%. Patterson's overall career mark is 87.4%. From a kickoff standpoint, Gonzalez has a 52.5% touchback percentage, while Patterson is significantly less at 34.6%

It will be interesting to see what this new regime values more between the two in the areas of accuracy versus leg strength when encompassing both field goal kicking as well as the kickoff aspect of the game. Patterson actually added four special teams tackles to his resume last season, three of them being solo. Gonzalez, to his credit, has been named Special Teams Player of the Week four times, including twice last season, and has a Special Teams Player of the Month award from 2019 as well.

New special teams coordinator, Chris Tabor, was asked back in May about the competition with Patterson needing to kick for his job against Gonzalez despite an excellent 2025, and he told reporters, " Riley doesn't mind. Obviously, he had a great year, and he's a really good player, as is Zane. But I think if you looked at both of their careers, they've competed against a lot of guys all the time, so I think that's nothing new. I think any competitor will say, If I'm in a competition, I play better. So looking forward to watching both those guys compete."

Tabor does have history with Gonzalez, as he was the special teams coordinator for the Cleveland Browns back in 2017 when they drafted the kicker in the seventh round. Tabor described to the media, "Zane, he's doing well. He's changed. When we drafted him in Cleveland, his stance and everything, his approach, how he does things, you see it. I'm dealing with an older player now as opposed to a rookie. That's probably the biggest difference."

Punter and Long-Snapper

The Dolphins signed Bradley Pinion, who spent the last four seasons with the Atlanta Falcons. He started his career with four seasons with the San Francisco 49ers from 2015-2018, three of those when Hafley was the defensive backs coach. He then had a three-season stint with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2019-21. His career in net yardage percentage is 40%, and last year he had a career-high in punts inside the 20 with 34.

Interestingly, Pinion could also handle kickoff duties with 802 during his 11 years in the league while having a touchback percentage of 75.8. This aspect could allow Patterson to have a leg up on Gonzalez, since Pinion could take the kickoffs, while Patterson remains focused on putting field goals and extra points on the board.

Tabor was asked how the ball is coming off Pinion's foot during OTA's last month, and he told reporters, " It's been good. It's been really good. I think this time of year, he's happy with where he's at. Obviously, we don't want him to peak right now, and we're not in that mode, but I like how he's striking the football, and he's going to be a big part of this deal."

As for the long-snapper, Tucker Addington has seen just a few games with both the New England Patriots and the Washington Commanders. Something to look for will be if he initially cracks the 53-man roster. Much like the organization did in 2024 with then-long-snapper Blake Ferguson, Addington could be cut and welcomed back in order to make room for another position player, as there is little to no risk of another team poaching him heading into the regular season, much like what happened with Ferguson.

Return Men

Malik Washington enters his third season and has proved to be a viable returner in both punts and kickoffs. In his two seasons so far, he has returned 38 punts for 384 yards, including a 74-yard touchdown last season against the New England Patriots in Week 2.

He averages 10.4 yards per punt return for his career, yet last year he improved from his rookie season, going from 7.4 in 2024 to 13.0 per return in 2025. As for kickoffs, Washington averages 27.9 yards per return over his career, which is the highest percentage in franchise history among players with a minimum of 50 returns.

Washington could see competition, especially in the punt return area, from rookie Kevin Coleman Jr. The Dolphins' fifth-round selection returned 57 punts over his last three collegiate seasons with three different schools for an average of 8.1. Coleman was rather impressive in 2025 for Missouri, returning 15 punts for an average of 12.6, which included a touchdown. He returned just four kickoffs in 2023 when he was with Louisville, but could join Washington in kickoff returns for Miami.

Regarding Coleman, Tabor told the media in May, "Oh, good player too, obviously did a nice job drafting him. He's a guy that has first step quickness, things that you need in a good returner, catches the ball well. He's a guy who will also be in the mix, so excited to work with him."

Coverage Units

Another area to watch this summer will be return and coverage units. With such a young team, with several free agents signed to one-year minimum deals, as well as 13 drafted rookies, a ticket to the roster and time on the field could come via special teams. One player particularly could be a key special teamer in the former Green Bay Packer, Zayne Anderson. The safety has seen vastly more special teams time in his five years in the league and could even work his way into being a leader of the group, as he has a few years of familiarity with Hafley from their last two seasons in Green Bay.

Veteran Cameron Goode has been a special teams fixture for Miami and had 19 tackles last season in this phase, eight being solo. It's this area where Goode will have to earn the right to keep his roster spot. Rookies to watch will be a pair of Texas Longhorn products in linebacker/edge Trey Moore, as well as safety Michael Taaffe. Specifically with Taaffe, he logged over 500 snaps on special teams in college, blocked a punt, and could be in play to be a gunner for Miami.

This article originally appeared on Dolphins Wire: Dolphins' OTA takeaways, outlook to training camp Part VI: Specialists