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By Matthew Davis
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After cutting longtime kicker Jason Sanders on March 6, the Miami Dolphins now have a new kicker.
The Dolphins and Zane Gonzalez have agreed to a one-year contract, according to his agent, Mike McCartney, on Tuesday. Gonzalez, the 2016 Lou Groza Award winner, hit seven field goals of 50 or more yards last season for the Atlanta Falcons.
It’s a significant move for the Dolphins on the special teams front since the team struggled last season with Sanders out injured. Sanders had a strong eight-year career with the Dolphins, with 187 field goals made and first-team All-Pro honors once in 2020 as the NFL’s scoring co-leader that year.
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In 2025, the Dolphins turned to kicker Riley Patterson, and he made 27 of 29 field goals, but only three were from 50 yards or longer. Patterson was accurate on extra points, 34-35, but Gonzalez gives the Dolphins an extra boost after a season where the team couldn’t score enough.
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Miami only averaged 20.4 points per game for 25th in the league, and new quarterback Malik Willis will be tasked with getting the offense back on track. That said, Gonzalez extends the scoring range for the Dolphins with his success of hitting from 50 yards out or a bit further.
Gonzalez is 18-28 from that range, but his accuracy has improved in recent years. He went 2-2 and 2-3 in 2019 and 2020 with the Arizona Cardinals. In 2021, he went 5-3 with the Carolina Panthers.
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He only had one attempt from that range, which missed, in his comeback for 2024 with the Washington Commanders. Gonzalez hadn’t kicked in regular season games for two years due to a quad injury, but he proved effective with the Commanders and Falcons over the past two seasons.
Miami will look for a similar special teams spark to help right the ship after a 7-10 season in 2025. Gonzalez has been kicking in the NFL since 2017 after a stellar collegiate career at Arizona State where he won the award for the nation's top kicker, the Lou Groza Award.
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