Miami Dolphins release of Daniel Kilgore is not a surprise

The Miami Dolphins are releasing starting center Daniel Kilgore and it shouldn’t come as a surprise for those who have been following along.

Daniel Kilgore never was able to become what the Miami Dolphins had hoped for when they traded for him two seasons ago. In 2020, he will not be a member of the Dolphins. According to news reports, the Dolphins are moving on.

The Dolphins will save just over $4 million in 2020 with his release. They will have no dead cap space as his contract was not guaranteed. Kilgore was a member of the 49’ers before the Dolphins added him in 2018.

Kilgore came to Miami via a trade in 2018 with the 49’ers. The deal was for a swap of 7th round draft picks. The 49’ers had just signed Kilgore to an extension prior to the trade but decided to address the position in the draft and the Dolphins were willing to take on the deal which wasn’t bad.

He immediately started for the Dolphins replacing Pro Bowl center Mike Pouncy but he played only four games before injury sidelined him for the season. He returned in 2019 but was not able to consistently play at a veteran level. He played in 13 games last season.

Kilgore stood out as a leader in the locker room. He was a voice of reason as the Dolphins purged their roster and as they started making trades that had players questioning what was going on.

Now the Dolphins will look towards free agency and the draft for his replacement. The Dolphins roster currently doesn’t have a clear replacement for him with Evan Boehm likely to be the only competition for whoever is added.

Center was a position that Miami needed to upgrade coming into the off-season and now with the impending release of Kilgore, it becomes a big need.

Miami’s entire offensive line looks to be overhauled this off-season with players coming from both the draft and free agency which begins next week.

On Wednesday it was announced that the Dolphins would not be bringing back Reshad Jones, a move that would add about $8 million to their cap space. The Dolphins already had the highest amount of space heading towards next week.

While the Dolphins are expected to make moves in free agency, they have said they will be calculated in their approach.