The Miami Dolphins brought in a former first-round pick who hasn’t played in the NFL since 2018 for a workout on Friday.
Reuben Foster, a former Alabama standout the San Francisco 49ers selected with the 31st pick in the 2017 NFL draft, worked out with the Dolphins on Friday morning, according to a league source.
Foster’s career was cut short because of a troublesome knee injury he suffered in May of 2019, which led to him losing feelings in his toes.
He’s finally healthy, and has been working to resume his NFL career. A thorough physical could determine whether the Dolphins offer him a minimum-salary contract, giving the 28-year-old an opportunity to train with the team this offseason, and possibly compete during training camp for a spot on the roster.
Coming out of college at Alabama, Foster was named a unanimous All-American and won the Butkus Award as the nation’s top linebacker in 2016. But he also had a troublesome history with the law because of marijuana possession, and a domestic violence charge that was eventually dropped.
In 10 games as a rookie in 2017, Foster led the 49ers with seven tackles for loss and finished second on the team with 72 total tackles.
He had 29 tackles in six games for the 49ers in 2019 before being arrested on domestic violence charges, and was subsequently released.
Prosecutors in Florida dismissed the misdemeanor domestic violence battery charges that stem from an alleged altercation he had with his former girlfriend in a Tampa hotel that November, the night before a game.
New Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel was part of the 49ers organization as an offensive assistant during the 2018 season, so he has some familiarity with Foster, who spent the 2019 season on Washington’s roster.
Foster worked out with the New York Jets, Jacksonville Jaguars and Cleveland Browns last season, but wasn’t signed.
If the Dolphins sign Foster, he’d be competing with Elandon Roberts, Jerome Baker, Duke Riley, Calvin Munson and Sam Eguavoen for a role as one of Miami’s inside linebackers.
Even though the Dolphins re-signed all the defensive free agents, linebacker happens to be a position of need for Miami considering the unit’s lack of depth, and the absence of players with playmaking ability.
The Dolphins moved Baker, the team’s leading tackler the past three seasons, to outside linebacker late last year, which opened the door for Jaelan Phillips, the team’s 2021 first-round pick, to be used strictly as a pass rusher. If both Baker and Phillips remain in those roles, Miami would need to find a starting caliber player to be paired with Roberts as an inside linebacker in Miami’s hybrid scheme.
When healthy and in his prime, Foster, who is 6-foot, 230 pounds, was known for his physicality and his sideline-to-sideline range. But he lacked technique, struggled to stack and shed blockers, and had a history of suffering concussions.
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