Sunday night the Miami Dolphins announced they have released veteran safety TJ McDonald. McDonald had been injured in recent weeks but was expected to share time with Reshad Jones at strong safety for this upcoming 2019 season. Jones is also nursing an injury but Jones informed the Miami Herald on Sunday that he has been told by the Miami Dolphins that he will not be traded in 2019 and he will be a part of the Dolphins 2019 roster.
McDonald joined the Dolphins in 2017 and was signed by the Dolphins even though he was facing a suspension to open up that season. McDonald had $3.6 million in guaranteed money this year and he also had the 7th highest cap figure on the Dolphins roster prior to this release.
Wow. Dolphins have cut TJ McDonald.
— Adam Beasley (@AdamHBeasley) August 25, 2019
The Dolphins are clearly going with a youth movement and any veteran making alot of money they are looking to move on from. The move of Bobby McCain to free safety full time means there was a log-jam at strong safety with Reshad Jones and TJ McDonald. And with Reshad’s contract being impossible to move this year it means McDonald was the odd man out.
The Dolphins releasing TJ McDonald is a surprise. But as I have been saying for weeks the youth movement is on in Miami. Who will be next…Kiko? Stills? pic.twitter.com/VFadsYh4IS
— DolphinsTalk.com (@DolphinsTalk) August 25, 2019
This is the first domino to drop in what could be a very newsworthy week for the Miami Dolphins. With cut-down day fast approaching the Dolphins may be looking to move on from a few other veteran players. Either via trade or just outright release. Some names to keep an eye on are Kenny Stills, Kiko Alonso, and Dwayne Allen. The Dolphins appear to be willing to eat a lot of dead money in 2019 if it means they move on from older players and can get some of the younger guys on the field sooner.
More on this story as it develops.
