Dolphins Bringing Back Preston Williams

The wide receiver was scheduled to become a free agent with the start of the NFL league year

Wide receiver Preston Williams sure looked like a player who could use a fresh start when the 2021 season ended, but maybe the arrival of a new head coach represents the fresh start he needs.

Regardless, Williams will be back with the Miami Dolphins for a fourth season after signing a new one-year contract Tuesday, according to a league source.

Williams was a restricted free agent, but the Dolphins had yet to extend a qualifying offer, which would have made him an unrestricted free agent with the start of the league year Wednesday.

PRESTON WILLIAMS' UP-AND-DOWN NFL START

After showing great promise in both 2019 and 2020 before an injury in the eighth game cut short those seasons for him, Williams had an utterly forgettable 2021 campaign.

Williams was inactive for seven games last season and dressed but didn't play in two others, including the game at Buffalo when he was left behind in Miami for a violation of team rules.

Williams finished with only six catches, and three of them came in the 28-point loss at Tampa Bay.

But Williams is a big receiver who showed in his first two seasons he can be a major factor in the passing game and he's also got the blocking ability that new head coach Mike McDaniel will like in an offense that has more of an emphasis on the running game than most.

Williams becomes the fourth potential free agent retained by the Dolphins, following Emmanuel Ogbah, Mike Gesicki and Duke Riley.

With Williams' return, the wide receiver corps currently features Jaylen Waddle, DeVante Parker, Allen Hurns, Lynn Bowden Jr., DeVonte Dedmon, Cody Core, River Cracraft and officially will add Cedrick Wilson Jr. on Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET.

The Dolphins have four wide receivers scheduled to become UFAs on Wednesday: Albert Wilson, Will Fuller V, Isaiah Ford and Mack Hollins.