Dolphins Shuffle Secondary in Offseason Reset, Signal Depth Overhaul Ahead of Training Camp

The Dolphins executed three roster transactions Monday that sketch out an organization still in construction mode. Major Burns, an undrafted safety who spent last season on injured reserve with Chicago before appearing in nine games for the Houston Gamblers this spring, signed with Miami. Simultaneously, the team released veteran offensive lineman Kion Smith and waived Carter Warren with an injury designation, moves that freed approximately $1.15MM in cap space and signal Miami's willingness to shuffle depth across the roster.

Burns' path to Miami illustrates the secondary's current state of flux. After going undrafted, Burns cycled through Chicago's system last preseason before landing on injured reserve in mid-August 2025—a full year ago. The UFL stint this spring gave him a chance to prove durability; nine appearances for Houston suggests the injury healed. Now he enters a competitive training camp race for a depth safety role with a franchise that new GM Jon-Eric Sullivan is actively reconditioning. Smith, by contrast, represents organizational sunk cost. The 27-year-old entered the league as an undrafted free agent signing with Atlanta but spent his entire professional career in Miami—23 appearances, two starts, none of them memorable enough to warrant guaranteed money beyond a futures contract signed in January. His departure creates modest cap flexibility but doesn't signal any philosophical shift; it's simply acknowledging that four years at the position yielded diminishing returns.

Warren's waiver with injury designation is the most telling move. The former Jet signed Miami's futures contract this winter only to land directly on the injury path—a cautionary tale about the reliability of offseason roster depth. With 14 career games played (six as a starter), Warren was never a cornerstone piece, but his removal suggests the Dolphins are willing to absorb injury-settlement costs rather than carry question marks into summer workouts. Miami entered the day with roughly $12MM in cap space; the Burns signing essentially washes out the Smith release, leaving Sullivan room to continue tinkering through training camp.

For prop purposes, the secondary moves matter most. If Burns establishes himself as a starting-caliber safety, Miami's pass defense architecture shifts—fewer opportunities for opposing quarterbacks to exploit middle-of-the-field voids that have plagued the Dolphins in recent seasons. More immediately, Burns' arrival telegraphs that Sullivan sees measurable gaps in the current safety corps that need addressing through low-cost veteran and UFL circulation rather than premium free-agent signings. Teams that address defensive shortcomings with UDFA depth reclamations are typically operating under cap constraint or lack high confidence in current starters. The Dolphins have $12MM in space, which rules out cap crisis, so the Burns move reads as a lack of conviction in the existing safety rotation. That conviction question will shape how opposing passing attacks—especially those featuring tight-end-heavy route distributions—approach Miami through September. Defenses that lack confidence in safety depth often allow higher completion percentages to underneath routes, which could depress some of Miami's interior pass-rush win-rate edges even as they're pursuing that safety upgrade.