It would be an understatement to say that the Miami Dolphins have issues in just one department. The team currently sits at 0-5 and is looking to improve coming out of its bye week. The struggles are evident on both sides of the ball, offense and defense, along with special teams, which have failed to impress as well, with multiple missed field goals during the Dolphins’ first five games of the season.
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Now, the team is looking to improve in at least one department. Per NFL analyst Jordan Schultz, the Dolphins worked out kickers Zane Gonzalez and seven-time Pro Bowler and Super Bowl champion Justin Tucker. However, Miami expressed no interest in signing Tucker and instead brought Gonzalez in ahead of the Week 7 road matchup against the New York Jets.
Tucker spent 13 seasons with the Baltimore Ravens. During his tenure, he converted 89.1% of his field-goal attempts, the second-highest career rate in NFL history. His most recent playing season, however, wasn’t at his usual standard. In 2024, Tucker made 22 of 30 field goals, a 73.3% conversion rate, his lowest single-season mark as a professional. He also made 60 of 62 extra points.
He hasn’t played in the NFL since. In 2025, the league handed him a ten-game suspension under its personal-conduct policy following allegations of inappropriate behavior during massage sessions. The Ravens then released him after 13 seasons.
Since then, Tucker has worked out for multiple teams, but failed to sign a deal. He had a tryout with the New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts but lost both times, to Cade York and Blake Grupe, respectively.
In July, he was again linked to both teams, but neither signed him. Now, after Tucker worked out for the Dolphins, they have decided to sign Gonzalez, leaving Tucker without a team once again. The decision came amid the team’s struggling start to the season.
The team had added Gonzalez to the roster earlier this season, but ended up releasing him after he suffered an injury in August. Kicker Riley Patterson then got the job but struggled to find his footing in the first five games of the season.
Patterson missed two field goals and an extra point in that stretch. His missed extra point came with 45 seconds remaining in the Week 5 loss to Cincinnati, a 31-24 defeat. His early-season numbers were a clear contrast to his previous year.
In 2025, he made 27 of 29 field goals, a 93.1% success rate, and 34 of 35 extra points. This season, however, he has made seven of nine field goals and five of six extra points. Now, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Miami has released Patterson.
The team signed Gonzalez to take over kicking duties. Originally drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the seventh round of the 2017 NFL draft, Gonzalez has spent time with multiple teams throughout his NFL career.
His most recent NFL season came with Atlanta in 2025, when he converted 19 of 22 field-goal attempts and 17 of 18 extra points across nine games. He also made seven of nine attempts from 50 yards or longer, with a long of 56 yards.
The major changes on the special teams came after head coach Jeff Hafley voiced his frustration with kickoffs.
“We did try to kick them out of the end zone; that was discussed and just not executed the way that we wanted it to be,” Hafley said. “Now fortunately, we covered a bunch of those kicks better than we did on the first time. And yeah, they had a nice return on the big return, obviously we didn’t execute it very well. So I would say it’s a combination of lack of execution on the big one. Good execution on their part, I don’t want to take that away from them. And then on the ensuing kickoffs, yeah, several of them were supposed to be touchbacks and weren’t.”
The Dolphins are winless at this point and will face the Jets in Week 7. While the changes on special teams are evident, it remains to be seen whether the team will make any changes on both offensive and defensive sides of the ball.