Texas A&M fans were shocked to hear that linebacker Tyrel Dodson had been released by the Miami Dolphins in today's final round of NFL roster cuts. Dodson was a highly productive player for Miami last year after he was claimed off of waivers in the middle of 2024, showing his quality in every given opportunity.
The Dolphins no doubt tied this move strategically to their signing of their second-round pick, Jacob Rodriguez, a linebacker out of Texas Tech. With all of the financial commitments that the Dolphins have on the books to former players, too, they have no room to stack a lot of depth, so Dodson was a casualty of that.
This came despite the fact that he was their leader in interceptions in 2025, snagging three, and their second-leading tackler, compiling 129. He also managed 5 sacks and 10 TFLs, good for third and second on the team, respectively.
Miami Dolphins just made a huge mistake by releasing Tyrel Dodson
Dodson came to Texas A&M as a three-star recruit from the Sumlin years, but quickly blossomed into one of the key players on the Aggie defense. He played in every single game in 2016, starting in many of them, and was the full-time starter in 2017.
He led Texas A&M in tackles that year with 109 and tied for second on the team with 11 tackles for loss. He was also a key piece of Mike Elko's first defense in Aggieland, as the current head coach was a defensive coordinator in 2018, and ran a lot of his scheme through Dodson.
Many Aggies remember his clutch play in the memorable bowl game against NC State, where the Aggies dominated, 52-13. In the first half, Dodson stepped in front of a pass from the Wolfpack quarterback and took it to the house for six as a part of the avalanche of scoring we saw out of the Aggies later in that game.
It surprised many Texas A&M fans that Dodson departed after only three years, but just like we saw with Taurean York, he felt it was his time to make the jump to the league. And, much like York, he ended up having to sign as an undrafted free agent— but like Aggie fans hope for Taurean, he saw a lot of success.
Dodson was a key piece for years on the Buffalo Bills defense and continued that in a short stint with the Seattle Seahawks, becoming their leading tackler for the year. He build on that success in Miami, but the Dolphins have now also elected to move on to a different face at the position.
With the numbers that Tyrel put up last year in Miami, it's hard to believe that he will remain unsigned for long. There are a lot of teams out there that could use a guy who logged so many tackles last year, so it will surely not be long before we see some team or another snap him up off of waivers.
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