The Dolphins’ deep defensive end corps took two big hits on Sunday. William Hayes suffered a season-ending knee injury in Miami’s win over Oakland, and Andre Branch will also miss time.
Miami intends to sign a defensive end, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald notes, adding that both Robert Ayers and Kony Ealy worked out for the Dolphins on Tuesday. These two were among several defensive ends that auditioned for the Dolphins today, according to Jackson.
Ealy could not make the Cowboys’ 53-man roster after spending the 2017 season with the Jets. The former Panthers second-round pick played three years in Carolina before being traded to New England, which did not work out. The Dolphins would be Ealy’s third AFC East employer, in the event they went in this direction.
Ayers has been one of this era’s better run-stopping defensive ends. He started 20 games for the Buccaneers between the 2016 and ’17 seasons. The Bucs cut him this offseason. So did the Lions, who only employed Ayers for one day.
This is Ayers’ first known workout since that preseason cut. As a nine-year veteran, Ayers would add more experience to a D-line chock full of it. Branch, Cameron Wake and Robert Quinn reside on the Fins’ front, with second-year man Charles Harris in the equation, too.