Dolphins updates: Miami adds starting corner, nose tackle, Chiefs tight end. And more news

Welcome to Day 4 of free agency and Thursday’s installment of The Miami Herald’s Dolphins/NFL free agency live updates.

As of Thursday morning, Miami had agreed to terms with eight players from other teams: tight end Jonnu Smith, linebacker Shaq Barrett, center Aaron Brewer, inside linebackers Jordyn Brooks and Anthony Walker Jr., safety Jordan Poyer, special teams ace Siran Neal and defensive tackle Neville Gallimore.

Miami also retained Elijah Campbell, Jake Bailey, Nik Needham, Rob Jones and Salvon Ahmed.

Five players are on their way out after agreeing to terms with other teams: defensive linemen Christian Wilkins and Raekwon Davis, right guard Robert Hunt, outside linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel and safety Brandon Jones.

We will have live updates throughout the day all week, as the Dolphins try to fill more holes. Please keep checking back for updates.

10:53: The Dolphins have added their fifth defensive lineman since the season, agreeing to terms with former Denver Bronco Jonathan Harris, NFL Network reported.

Harris, who turns 28, was not tendered as a restricted free agent, making him an unrestricted free agent who could sign anywhere.

The 6-5, 295-pound Harris started five games for Denver last season and recorded a career-high 43 sacks and his first career sack. Harris originally entered the league as an undrafted free agent, signing with the Chicago Bears.

Because Harris is being signed as a restricted free agent who did not receive a tender, he will not count toward the compensatory pick formula.

9:18 p.m.: The second player from the Dolphins’ 2023 offense has departed, with wide receiver Cedrick Wilson Jr. reaching an agreement with the New Orleans Saints on a two-year deal, ESPN reported Thursday.

While Miami is set to receive multiple compensatory picks in 2025 for the loss of several free agents, Wilson won’t count toward that calculation. This is because the NFL doesn’t allow players whose contracts were voided to be considered in the compensatory pick formula.

Wilson, who originally signed a three-year, $22 million deal with the Dolphins in the 2022 offseason, reworked his deal last August and replaced the final year of the deal with a void year, a placeholder year that does not extend the contract. This allowed Wilson to become a free agent after the 2023 season.

4:10 p.m.: The Dolphins are bringing back defensive tackle Benito Jones, who developed into a solid starter for Detroit last season. He has agreed to terms, according to a league source.

Jones, who’s 335 pounds, will fill the nose tackle role vacated by the departure of Raekwon Davis to the Colts.

Jones, 26, started 15 games and appeared in 17 for Detroit last season and had 26 tackles (including three for loss) and a sack in 567 defensive snaps. He played 52 percent of the Lions’ defensive plays.

Pro Football Focus rated him only 124th of 129 defensive tackles last season; Davis was rated 79th.

Jones played 311 snaps (27 percent of Detroit’s defensive snaps) in 2022, when he appeared in 17 games, all as a backup. He had 1.5 sacks and 16 tackles that season.

As an undrafted free agent out of Mississippi, Jones began his career with the Dolphins in 2020 and appeared in six games that season, logging 48 defensive snaps.

He spent the entire 2021 season on Miami’s practice squad and spent the following offseason with the Dolphins before being waived on Aug. 30, 2022. Detroit claimed him the next day and he ended up appearing in 34 games for the Lions over two seasons.

Miami also agreed on a new deal with defensive tackle Da’Shawn Hand, who had 17 tackles in 16 games for the Dolphins last season. The 297-pound Hand played 198 defensive snaps in 2023.

3:30 p.m.: The Dolphins have agreed to a deal with free agent tight end Jody Fortson, who spent the past five seasons with the Chiefs and had four touchdowns (and no drops) among his 18 career and some targetsvery good run blocking grades.

Fortson spent two seasons on the practice squad after joining the Chiefs as an undrafted free agent out of Valdosta State in 2019. He played wide receiver in college and the Chiefs transitioned him to tight end as a rookie.

He made the Chiefs’ active roster in August 2021 and made his first NFL appearance that season and had five catches for 47 yards that season, including two touchdowns.

Fortson, 28, appeared in 13 games and had nine receptions for 108 yards and two touchdowns in the 2022 season, which ended on injured reserve following an elbow injury in Week 15.

He played 54 offensive snaps in 2021 and 184 in 2022.

Fortson was an exclusive rights free agent last March, and the Chiefs tendered him. But he sustained a dislocated shoulder last August and went on season-ending injured reserve.

Fortson, who’s 6-4 and 226 pounds, had interest from other teams, according to his agents, The Katz Brothers. The Dolphins like the skill set.

He will compete with Julian Hill, Tanner Connor and likely additional players for jobs behind Durham Smythe and Jonnu Smith.

3 p.m.: The Dolphins found a new starting cornerback on Thursday, agreeing to a two-year, $16.5 million deal with veteran Kendall Fuller. ESPN first reported the deal, and a league source quickly confirmed it.

Fuller started all 62 games he played for Washington over the past four seasons, including 15 last season.

He had two interceptions, nine passes defended and 79 tackles last year for the Commanders and allowed a 101.9 passer rating in his coverage area and 10 yards per reception. He permitted six TDs last season, but Pro Football Focus still ranked him seventh among all corners last season.

He has 14 interceptions in an eight-year career that included six years with Washington and two with Kansas City. He spent his first two seasons with the Commanders, who drafted him in the third round out of Virginia Tech in 2016, before moving on to two seasons with the Chiefs.

Pro Football Focus rates him the sixth most valuable cornerback in the NFL over the last two seasons.

With Fuller and Ramsey and Kader Kohou and Nik Needham, the Dolphins have four cornerbacks who can play inside and outside.

2:15 p.m. update: The Dolphins formally announced the re-signing of Bailey and Ahmed, and officially announced the signing of Brooks.

12:50 p.m.: John Jenkins, who has appeared in 133 games with 47 starts in an 11-year NFL career, visited the Dolphins, as NFL writer Aaron Wilson noted. According to a source, the visit went well and it wouldn’t be at all surprising if a deal gets done. Discussions continue but there’s no deal in place as of this time.

Jenkins, who is 6-3 and 327 pounds, is a natural nose tackle option to replace Raekwon Davis, who joined the Colts.

Jenkins, 34, had 61 tackles and a sack in 17 games, all starts, for the Raiders last season. He played for Miami in 2019 and then again in 2021 and 2022.

12:45 p.m.: The Pittsburgh Steelers are signing safety DeShon Elliott to a two-year, $6 million, per Bleacher Report’s Jordan Schultz. Elliott had 82 tackles and an interception in 15 games for Miami last season.

He’s the second Dolphins safety to depart this week, joining Brandon Jones, who signed with Denver.

Miami signed Bills safety Jordan Poyer this week.

11:45 a.m. update: The Dolphins continue to post classy farewells to departing players on their X (formerly Twitter) account.

They bid goodbye to Christian Wilkins on Thursday morning, saying “Thank You, Christian Wilkins... 5 seasons... 2 [time] team captain... Countless memories on and off the field.” Wilkins agreed to a five-year, $110 million deal with the Raiders on Monday.

Earlier this week, after releasing Xavien Howard, the Dolphins tweeted: “Thank you, Xavien Howard. 8 seasons.. 4 [time] Pro Bowler.. 2 [time] team captain... 2 [time] Dan Marino Team MVP Award Winner. Thanks for everything.”

Wilkins, for his part, posted this message on social media on Wednesday: “Five years ago, the Miami Dolphins took a chance on me and I’m forever grateful. My goal was always to leave the city and the organization better than I found it and it’s been an absolute pleasure to call it home. I proudly close this chapter, knowing that I gave this place all that I had. Miami, you will be missed and you will hold a special place in my heart forever.”

11:30 a.m. update: The Dolphins kicked the tires on defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins before deciding not to vigorously pursue him. He agreed to a two-year, $26 million deal with the Bengals.

The Dolphins, so far, have been reluctant to spend much at defensive tackle to replace Christian Wilkins; they gave a one-year, $1.79 million fully guaranteed deal to Neville Gallimore.

But another veteran addition or two are expected at the position, following the departures of Raekwon Davis (to the Colts) and Wilkins.

10 a.m. update: While continuing to negotiate a long-term contract with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, it also would behoove the Dolphins to begin talks with receiver Jaylen Waddle on a multiyear contract.

That’s because the price for Waddle only went up this week, even without Waddle stepping on a field.

Before the May 2 deadline, the Dolphins assuredly will exercise Waddle’s fifth-year option that would pay him $15.6 million in 2025. But striking a long-term deal, sometime this year, seems to make sense, considering the fact that general manager Chris Grier was adamant recently that Waddle is not going to be traded.

Waddle — who will make $1.1 million in 2024 — is already extension eligible. So is linebacker Jaelan Phillips, with Miami facing a May 2 deadline to exercise his $13.25 million fifth-year option for 2025.

With the salary cap rising, the receiver market has again exploded. This week, Calvin Ridley agreed to a four-year, $92 million deal with the Tennessee Titans, and Michael Pittman agreed to a three-year, $70 million extension with the Indianapolis Colts.

So that’s $23 million a year for Ridley and $23.3 million for Pittman.

Let’s consider how they compare with Waddle.

Ridley played in only five games in 2021 (citing mental health issues) and missed the 2022 season due to a league suspension for betting on NFL games.

If you give him the benefit of the doubt for purposes of this comparison and combine his stats only for his last two full seasons (2020 with Atlanta, 2023 with Jacksonville), he caught 166 passes for 2,390 yards (14.3 per catch) and 17 touchdowns during those two seasons.

Pittman’s last two seasons: 208 catches for 2,077 yards (9.9 per catch) and eight touchdowns.

Waddle, during his last two seasons, has caught 147 passes for 2,370 yards (16.1 yards per catch) and 12 touchdowns.

So Waddle warrants every bit as much as those players. And he could make the case he deserves more, because his numbers probably would be even better if he didn’t share receptions with Pro Bowler Tyreek Hill, who caught 119 passes for 1799 yards and 13 touchdowns in 2023.

In his one year without Hill (2021), Waddle caught 104 passes for 1,015 yards and six touchdowns.

What’s more, Waddle likely will stand to benefit if several other receivers eligible for extensions get big money before he does. That group includes Cincinnati’s Ja’Marr Chase (drafted one spot before Waddle in 2021), Philadelphia’s DeVonta Smith (picked four spots after Waddle), Minnesota’s Justin Jefferson, Dallas’ CeeDee Lamb and Cincinnati’s Tee Higgins.

According to overthecap.com, Pittman and Ridley now rank eighth and ninth in average annual salary for wide receivers.

The top seven: 1). Hill, at $30 million. 2). The Raiders’ Davante Adams, at $28 million. 3). The Rams’ Cooper Kupp, at $26.7 million. 4). Philadelphia’s A.J. Brown, at $25 million.

5 and 6). Buffalo’s Stefon Diggs and Seattle’s DK Metcalf, at $24 million and 7). San Francisco’s Deebo Samuel, at $23.85.

So Waddle assuredly is going to get paid at some point. Miami has more flexibility to do that after bypassing the chance to re-sign Christian Wilkins and Robert Hunt.