The Miami Dolphins have made their first decision on one of their three restricted free agents, and they’re ready to let Quinton Bell move on.
The team has decided not to extend a qualifying offer to the outside linebacker, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, and that will make him an unrestricted free agent when the 2025 league year kicks off Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET.
Afte spending the second half of the 2023 season on the Dolphins practice squad, Bell earned a spot on the 53-man roster last year after he shined in training camp. He went on to play 17 games with three starts, and finished with 27 tackles and his first career sack. That sack was against Matthew Stafford in the Dolphins’ 23-15 victory against the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium in the Monday night game in November.
This move wasn’t surprise. We even predicted it last week when we wrote about the pending RFAs.
“While defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver often praised Bell last season, the Dolphins have a lot of options at the edge defender spot, so there’s no reason to commit any kind of significant amount of money and cap space for Bell,” is what we wrote. “His salary for 2024 was $985,000 and the best guess is the Dolphins don’t make a qualifying tender. If they do, it would be for ROFR only.”
Bell will become the third Dolphins outside linebacker on the free agent market next week, along with veterans Emmanuel Ogbah and Tyus Bowser.
