The Miami Dolphins are bringing back kicker Riley Patterson, following their one-year deal with Zane Gonzalez.
Miami Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan and head coach Jeff Hafley put an emphasis on injecting competition into the team, and they both said it would happen at every position.
They continue to make that promise known, as the team announced the re-signing of kicker Riley Patterson. Patterson's deal comes a day following the one-year deal struck with former Atlanta Falcons kicker Zane Gonzalez.
Instead of outright naming Patterson the kicker for the 2026 season, the Dolphins will instead see how the pair performs during training camp and preseason.
Patterson came to Miami in the 2025 offseason after Jason Sanders suffered a hip injury. Despite the team likely wanting to keep Sanders, his hip injury led to a completely missed season.
Patterson came in and performed very well, breaking the accuracy record Sanders set in 2020. Sanders kicked a 92.3 percentage in 2020, while Patterson broke that in 2025 with a 93.1.
Clearly, Patterson was the better kicker, but that does not mean he is being awarded the starting job.
The Dolphins also signed Gonzalez, who comes over from the Atlanta Falcons.
Gonzalez appeared in nine games for the Falcons, going 19-for-22 attempts, and had an 86.4 accuracy percentage. He was also 8-for-8 on kicks at the 40-49 yard range and 7-for-9 on kicks 50 yards or more.
The Dolphins want to find the best team, and they can do so by infusing competition into every position, as Sullivan and Hafley have preached since taking over the team.
There is no telling if Patterson will outperform Gonzalez, or the other way around, but the Dolphins will see which will be their preferred option once training camp and preseason roll around.
Despite a limited amount of cap space, the Dolphins have been busy with low-cost and potentially high-reward signings. Gonzalez is one of those signings, as have been the secondary and special teamers such as Zane Anderson and Alex Austin.
Sullivan is continuing to do work behind the scenes, and it appears the Dolphins are setting themselves up to focus on the draft to bring in younger talent on both sides of the ball.
Though Miami cannot afford bigger names in 2026, they are setting things up to be far more competitive in 2027 and beyond.