Dolphins Sign Antonio Callaway to their Practice Squad
Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network was the first to report Sunday afternoon that the Dolphins have signed Antonio Callaway to their practice squad. Callaway is still in the middle of serving an NFL suspension from 2019 and will not be able to get on the field the first 7 weeks of the season.
Former #Browns WR Antonio Callaway is signing with the #Dolphins practice squad, per source. A possible high-reward signing.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 6, 2020
Callaway is an extremely gifted and talented wide receiver but one who has had issues off the field. A 4th round draft pick in the 2018 NFL Draft Callaway only fell to the 4th round because of off the field issues from his time at the University of Florida. In 2016 Callaway as suspended by the University of Florida for an accused Sexual Assault. Callaway was suspended from the school between January and June of 2017 and was ultimately not charged on the sexual assault claim. Once re-instated by the school Callaway decided to enter the 2018 NFL draft and never played again for Florida.
With the Browns, Callaway had a productive 2018 season on the field. But, Callaway was suspended for four games at the start of the 2019 season for violating the NFL’s substance-abuse policy. In November of 2019 after showing up late for meetings multiple times and also facing a 10 game NFL suspension for another violation the Browns released Callaway.
On the field with the Browns Callaway was a productive player. Starting 13 of 20 games, catching 5 touchdowns and for 675 yards. The Dolphins are making a low-risk/high-reward signing here in hopes Callaway cleaned up his life off the field and in turn can become a productive player on the field. On paper Callaway is the third-best receiver on Miami’s roster at this moment, hopefully we can see him on the field in 2020.
This is a crafty move by the Dolphins management if, and only if, Callaway has tamed the undisciplined issues in his life. His physical talent is clear and he offers a great 3rd option in the WR room if he can get up to speed fairly quickly. With the addition of Lynn Bowden and Malcolm Perry MIA now has 3 ‘great in space’ receivers for the slot, each with different strengths and capabilities. Even more importantly all three have PR capability, which makes MIA dependence on Jakeem Grant a thing of the past. Grant’s speed is unquestioned but his hands are unreliable and he’s been nicked and missed significant time each year.