Dolphins History Lesson: The Pro Bowlers Who Ended Their Careers with a Year in Miami
The Miami Dolphins made an improbable run to the playoffs in 2016 in Adam Gase's first year as head coach, thanks in large part to the exploits of one of their running backs.
But it wasn't the four-time Pro Bowl selection they had signed in mid-July, shortly before the start of training camp.
That player was Arian Foster, and the date the Dolphins signed him after he had spent seven wildly successful seasons with the Houston was July 18, 2016.
On the four-year anniversary of that signing, it's worth taking some time to revisit Foster's final season, part of a long history of the Dolphins getting Pro Bowl players for one last hurrah that unfortunately doesn't materialize.
As we mentioned, it wasn't Foster who fueled the run to the playoffs; rather, it was Jay Ajayi, who had three 200-yard rushing performances on his way to earning Pro Bowl honors.
But it was Foster who was the opening-day starter at running back for the Dolphins, though that day and Foster's entire tenure in Miami would be most remembered for him being one of four Miami players who knelt during the national anthem in protest of the police killings of Black citizens.
In game action, Foster's one highlight in his four games with the Dolphins was a 55-yard reception in that opener at Seattle.
Foster never could get anything going on the ground, the injury issues that had led to his departure from Houston began popping up, and one October day after rushing for 5 yards on three carries against Buffalo — one of the games where Ajayi reached 200 rushing yards — Foster decided it was time to retire.
In the end, the signing of Foster didn't hurt the Dolphins because of Ajayi's emergence, but it also didn't provide much.
Sadly, that's been a common theme when the Dolphins have brought in Pro Bowl players in the final stages of their careers.
Here are the other examples:
• 1984: The Dolphins acquired fullback Pete Johnson from the San Diego Chargers early in the 1984 season after the Chargers had traded for him from Cincinnati, for whom he had made the Pro Bowl in 1981. A great goal-line runner, Johnson did what the Dolphins brought him to do, as he scored nine touchdowns in nine games. Johnson, however, ended up being the only Dolphins player not to play in the Super Bowl against the 49ers that season.
• 1988: The Dolphins bring in three-time Pro Bowl running back Joe Cribbs, but he no longer was the player he had been early in his career with the Buffalo and he got only five rushing attempts in 12 games. That same year, the Dolphins brought in kicker Tony Franklin two years after he n made the Pro Bowl with the Patriots, the Dolphins brought him in November. He proceeded to make only 4 of 11 field goal attempts.
• 1994: Punter Jim Arnold was a two-time Pro Bowl selection when the Dolphins signed him as a free agent, but he didn't make it through the year after averaging a career-low 39.3 yards in 12 games.
• 1995: In Don Shula's final year as head coach, he signed four-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Gary Clark and Clark was a solid backup who caught 37 passes for 525 and two touchdowns in 16 games.
• 2000: After the Buffalo Bills release future Hall of Famer Thurman Thomas in the offseason, the Dolphins decided to bring him in Dave Wannstedt's first year as head coach. But Thomas wasn't the same back anymore and his season ended when he sustained a knee injury in November.
• 2002: In the middle of a season when they were in playoff contention, the Dolphins decided to sign eight-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Cris Carter. But this wasn't the same Carter who put up big numbers with the Eagles and Vikings. He caught only eight passes in five games for the Dolphins.
• 2015: The Dolphins figured they bolstered their wide receiver corps by signing two-time Pro Bowl selection Greg Jennings, but though he appeared in every game and made five starts, he caught only 19 passes for 208 yards.
• 2016: Along with Foster, the Dolphins also signed four-time Pro Bowl defensive end Mario Williams to bolster the pass rush. Williams, though, didn't bolster anything. He played 13 games with five starts that season, but finished with only 1.5 sacks.
• 2017: The year after they made the playoffs, the Dolphins went back to the older veteran mode in terms of acquisitions, bringing in linebacker Lawrence Timmons and tight end Julius Thomas. And then when Ryan Tannehill tore his ACL in a training camp practice, Gase went back to his former quarterback Jay Cutler, coaxing him out of retirement to take over the offense. Cutler had his moments that season, but the overall performance was extraordinarily average. After his much-publicized absence from the season opener, Timmons actually turned in a solid season, finishing with 84 tackles in 14 games. Thomas, meanwhile, couldn't re-create his work from his Denver days with Gase, finishing with 41 catches for 388 yards.
• 2018: This time the Dolphins wanted to help their offensive line, so they signed four-time Pro Bowl guard Josh Sitton. Bad luck hurt early with this one, as Sitton sustained a torn rotator cuff in the regular season opener against Tennessee and landed on injured reserve. The Dolphins released him the following March and he retired.
