With receivers Allen Hurns and Albert Wilson deciding to pick the 2020 season, the Dolphins have reportedly added a veteran receiver to fill gaps in the position. Miami has signed former Colts receiver Chester Rogers for a one-year deal, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.
A previously developed rookie from Grambling State, the 6-foot, 184-pound Rogers caught 111 passes for 1,221 yards and 11 touchdowns in his four seasons at Indianapolis. Rogers’ best season with the Colts took place in 2018, when he caught 53 of 72 goals for 485 yards and two touchdowns while making a career-high 10 starts. Last season, Rogers scored 16 of 28 goals for 179 yards and two touchdowns before suffering a week-long knee injury in Week 13.
In Miami, Rogers joins a dolphin receiving corps currently led by DeVante Parker and Preston Williams. Parker, a pick in the first round of 2015, comes out of a 2019 season that saw him set career highs with 72 receptions for 1,202 yards and nine touchdowns. Williams, a developed rookie in 2019, averaged 32 passes for 428 yards and three touchdowns despite playing in just eight games.
The Dolphins’ receiving corps also includes Gary Jennings, Jakeem Grant, Isaiah Ford, Mack Hollins and 2020 seventh round Malcolm Perry. Jennings, a pick in the fourth round in the 2019 draft, appeared in just one game for the Dolphins last season after beginning his career early in the season with the Seahawks. Grant, a pick in the sixth round in the 2016 draft, has blossomed in a solid point / kickoff return, two kickoffs and one point back for touchdowns in the past two seasons.
Ford, a seventh-round pick in the 2018 draft, caught 23 passes for 244 yards last season after not catching a single catch as a rookie. Hollins, a fourth-round pick in the 2017 draft, won a Super Bowl with the Eagles during his rookie season. He was late on demand by the Dolphins late in the 2019 season. The 5-10, 181-pound Perry played multiple positions at Navy before becoming the school’s starting quarterback in 2018. Last fall, Perry’s 2,017 rushing yard put an NCAA in record for the most rushing yard in a season by a quarterback.
The Dolphins led a season in a new era at quarterback. She climbed the fifth overall pick in this draft this year on quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who completed 69.3% of his passes with 87 touchdowns and just 11 interceptions during his time in Alabama. And despite sustaining a serious hip injury last fall, Tagovailoa declared he was “ready to go” just before the start of the Dolphins’ training camp.
