Former Auburn wide receiver Ricardo Louis missed the previous two NFL seasons due to injuries, and his opportunity to play in the 2020 season has hit a setback associated with the coronavirus pandemic.
The Miami Dolphins released Louis on Saturday, the NFL team announced.
On Friday, representatives from the NFL Players Association team approved a package of amendments to the collective bargaining agreement to help the league prepare for the 2020 season during the COVID-19 crisis. The changes forced teams to reduce their offseason rosters, which can contain up to 90 players, to a maximum of 80 by August 16.
Another change limited each team to having no more than 80 players on their team’s premises at one time during training camp, so cuts were expected to start quickly with veteran players slated to report Tuesday.
Louis had signed a $ 660,000, one-year contract with the Dolphins on February 4.
The Cleveland Browns selected Louis in the fourth round of the 2016 NFL Draft, and he caught 18 passes for 205 yards, playing in each game with three starts as a rookie. Louis also returned nine kickoffs for 164 yards.
In his second NFL season, Louis started nine games and led the Browns wide receivers with 27 catches for 357 yards in 2017. Louis suffered a neck injury during the season that required off-season surgery, leading him to kept off the field in 2018.
Cleveland released Louis on April 1, 2019, and signed a one-year contract with Miami a week later. But on May 16, 2019, the Dolphins placed Louis in the injured reserve after suffering a knee injury on Miami’s offseason show. Louis spent the entire 2019 season on the Dolphins’ IR.
Louis caught 98 passes for 1,338 yards and eight touchdowns at Auburn. He was on the receiving end of the Prayer at Jordan-Hare, catching a deflected pass on a fourth and 18 shot by Nick Marshall for a 73-yard touchdown with 25 seconds to play that elevated the Tigers to a 43-38 victory over Georgia on November 16, 2013.
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ AMarkG1.
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