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The Book on New Dolphins DT Justin Zimmer

The Miami Dolphins filled their one opening on their 53-man roster

Alain Poupart

The Book on New Dolphins DT Justin Zimmer
The Book on New Dolphins DT Justin Zimmer /
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The Miami Dolphins filled their one roster opening Wednesday when they signed defensive tackle Justin Zimmer, who played for the AFC East rival Buffalo Bills in the NFL and with new teammate Zach Sieler at Ferris State.

Zimmer becomes the fifth defensive lineman on the roster, joining Sieler, Christian Wilkins, Raekwon Davis and John Jenkins. He filled the opening created when the Dolphins placed Emmanuel Ogbah on injured reserve with the triceps injury he sustained in the Week 10 victory against the Cleveland Browns.

A veteran of 21 NFL games over the four previous seasons, Zimmer was last on the Bills practice squad working his way back from a knee injury that landed him on injured reserve last November, a little less than a month after he had been signed to the active roster.

Zimmer had been elevated from the practice squad twice by the Bills last year before he joined the active roster, and one of those two games was against the Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium in Week 2.

In that game, a 35-0 Buffalo victory, Zimmer recorded his second career sack. His first came in 2020 against Kyler Murray of the Arizona Cardinals in the Hail Mary loss.

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ZIMMER'S NFL RESUME AND SCOUTING REPORT

Prior to joining the Bills in 2020, Zimmer appeared in one game for the Atlanta Falcons in 2018 and two games with the Cleveland Browns in 2019.

The scouting report out of Buffalo is that Zimmer is a good athlete as an interior defensive lineman. He's best suited for an interior lineman role, so he shouldn't be seen as a replacement for Ogbah.

Instead, we'd still expect to see veteran Brennan Scarlett elevated from the practice squad soon rather than later to play that 4-3 defensive end role.

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Alain Poupart
ALAIN POUPART

Alain Poupart is the publisher/editor of All Dolphins and co-host of the All Dolphins Podcast. Alain has covered the Miami Dolphins on a full-time basis since 1989 for various publications and media outlets, including Dolphin Digest, The Associated Press, the Dolphins team website, and the Fan Nation Network (part of Sports Illustrated). In addition to being a credentialed member of the Miami Dolphins press corps, Alain has covered three Super Bowls (for NFL.com, Football News and the Montreal Gazette), the annual NFL draft, the Senior Bowl, and the NFL Scouting Combine. During his almost 40 years in journalism, which began at the now-defunct Miami News, Alain has covered practically every sport at one time or another, from tennis to golf, baseball, basketball and everything in between. The career also included time as a copy editor, including work on several books such as "Still Perfect," an inside look at the Miami Dolphins' 1972 perfect season. A native of Montreal, Canada, whose first language is French, Alain grew up a huge hockey fan but soon developed a love for all sports, including NFL football. He has lived in South Florida since the 1980s.

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