Dolphins sign former Colts receiver Chester Rogers
The Miami Dolphins continued adding to their the receiver unit with Sunday’s signing of a five-year veteran who has started 22 NFL games the past four seasons.
Chester Rogers, who signed a one-year deal, joins Ricardo Louis as the second receiver Miami signed this weekend to cushion the absences of Albert Wilson and Allen Hurns, two veterans who opted out of playing the 2020 season because of coronavirus concerns.
Wilson and Hurns were viewed as the front-runners to serve as Miami’s starting slot receiver — put on the inside of a passing game that will likely focus on DeVante Parker and second-year receiver Preston Williams playing on the outside. Their decision to sit out the 2020 season left Miami’s receiver unit thin, and with a leadership void.
Rogers brings some experience to the Dolphins.
Rogers, a former Grambling State standout who made it to the NFL as an undrafted rookie, started 22 of the 53 games he played the past four seasons, pulling in 111 receptions for 1,221 yards and scoring five touchdowns.
He caught 16 passes for 179 yards and scored two touchdowns last year in a season that was cut short by a knee fracture he suffered in Week 13, which got him placed on injured reserve in early December.
Rogers, who is 6 foot, 184 pounds, has spent the bulk of his NFL career serving as a slot receiver, which happens to be an area of need for Miami. While he lacks breakaway speed after being timed at 4.56 in the 40-yard dash during the draft process, he’s known as a crafty route runner.
He’ll likely compete with Gary Jennings Jr., a second-year player Miami claimed after the Seattle Seahawks waived the 2019 fourth-round pick, and Isaiah Ford, a 2017 seventh-round pick who caught 23 passes for 244 yards last season, for the slot receiver role.
Unlike Rogers, Louis got re-signed by Miami after he spent the 2019 season on the Dolphins’ injured reserve, and spent this offseason with the team after being re-signed this spring. Miami released him two weeks ago to make roster space for a defensive tackle, but re-signed him Saturday because of the immediate need.
Louis, a 2016 fourth-round pick, played in all 32 games — and started 17 of them — his first two seasons, which were spent with the Cleveland Browns. He missed all of last season rehabbing a surgically repaired knee.
The addition of Louis and Rogers brings Miami’s receiver unit to 10 players, which includes two undrafted rookies in Kirk Merritt and Matt Cole. The Dolphins typically keep five or six receivers on their 53-man regular-season roster, and two on the practice squad. …
The Dolphins activated inside linebacker Calvin Munson off the non-football injury list, which is where he began training camp. Munson is a young player Miami poached off New England’s practice squad late last season.
Munson played in two games for the Dolphins last year, totaling seven tackles (five solo). He’s expected to compete for a backup linebacker spot and a role as a core special teams player.
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