Former Miami Dolphins players are not having a great time finding work before the season

While the Miami Dolphins are concentrating on their own 53-man roster, there are still former players who do not have new NFL teams with just over a week to go before the season starts.

For some of these players, any chance of playing in 2024 will now likely come after week one is played. Any veteran that is on a roster week one automatically has their full season guaranteed but players signed after the first weekend are not guaranteed.

Miami could look to bring some of their former players back after that first weekend but for several, the ship has either already sailed or will take a lot to happen to return.

Xavien Howard's absence from the field is more to do with what happened off of it.

Had anyone said Howard would not have a job at the end of the year, we would all have called them a liar. Now the question is, will he play in the NFL again? Howard's play on the field had dropped, but not to a point he wouldn't be needed. When his off-field issues also came into play, everything changed. The more likely reason Howard is without work is because of his off-field issues, and until they are resolved, it's unlikely that he will come back into the NFL.

Ryan Tannehill is still looking for work and many thought he would have a job by now.

It's hard to believe that Tannehill went from a starting quarterback to a backup almost overnight. When he left the Titans and became a free agent it was almost a foregone conclusion that he would find a job. He has plenty of starting experience, has been to the playoffs, and knows his job is going to be in a backup role. Unless he has been adamant about not playing backup, there is no reason why he hasn't been signed.

When looking at the Dolphins, a team built for short-term success, bringing Tannehill back would have been a smart move given how the Dolphins are all-in with their roster. A little insurance would have made sense. Instead, they chose Skylar Thompson and Tim Boyer.

Eli Apple may have played his final game in the NFL and never realized it.

When you are a seasoned veteran, things change quickly, and for Apple, that might be the case if players start to go down. Apple wasn't someone the Dolphins needed, and his time with Miami wasn't very impressive. His best days are long behind him, which is sad because he hasn't been in the league for seven years.

If Apple does play again, it will be to fill in for an injured player, but beyond that, he no longer holds much value.

Has Charles Harris finally seen the last of the NFL?

There was a brief period when the former Dolphins' first-round draft pick finally looked to be headed in the right direction. His time with the Lions proved to be valuable, but it was only one season, and then he seemed to disappear. Now, it looks as though, like with Apple, Harris will need a lot of help from the injury department to find another shot at a one-year deal.

It's hard to believe but former Dolphins draft pick, Billy Turner is still in the NFL.

For all intents and purposes, Turner was a bust for the Dolphins, yet he somehow pulled it together after leaving Miami and carved out a nine-year run in the NFL. In 2023, Turner played for the Jets, but he has not been picked up yet by another team. His road to year 10 doesn't look good, but there is still time.