Miami Dolphins Sign Kicker Zane Gonzalez to One-Year Deal

The Miami Dolphins have found their kicker for 2026. Veteran Zane Gonzalez is heading to South Beach after agreeing to a one-year contract with Miami, as announced by his agent Mike McCartney. It’s not the flashiest signing of the offseason; nobody’s throwing a ticker-tape parade for a kicker. But ask any NFL fan who’s watched a game-winning field goal sail wide right, and they’ll tell you: a reliable leg matters. A lot.

The Man Behind the Boot

Gonzalez, now 30, has lived one of the more interesting journeys in recent NFL kicker history. And that’s saying something, because kicker journeys are either completely boring or completely chaotic. He has been the latter.

It started in Cleveland back in 2017, when the Browns drafted him in the seventh round out of Arizona State. By 2018, they’d already cut him loose mid-season, no less. Most guys fold under that kind of rejection. Gonzalez dusted himself off, landed on Arizona’s practice squad, earned a promotion to the active roster, and carved out a legitimate career from there.

From Arizona to Carolina to Washington to Atlanta, the man has bounced around the league like a pinball. Five teams in seven seasons. It sounds like a cautionary tale, but look closer at the numbers, and you’ll find a kicker who keeps showing up and delivering when it counts.

What Gonzalez Brings to Miami

Let’s discuss what truly matters here: performance. In 2025 with the Atlanta Falcons, Gonzalez appeared in nine games and made 19 of his 22 field goal attempts. That’s a solid 86.4 percent clip. But the number that really jumps out? He was 7-for-9 on attempts of 50 yards or beyond. That’s nothing. That’s a guy who can flip field position and swing games when offenses stall deep in their own territory.

Ironically, this isn’t even Gonzalez’s first rodeo with the Dolphins organization, sort of. Back when Jason Sanders went down with a hip injury in the 2025 preseason, Gonzalez was one of four kickers brought in for a tryout. He didn’t get the job that time around. Riley Patterson beat him out and promptly set a Dolphins franchise record for field goal accuracy, going 27-of-29 (93.1 percent) on the season. So yeah, Gonzalez lost a kicker competition to a guy who then had one of the best individual kicking seasons in Miami history.

Nobody said the path was going to be pretty.

Why Gonzalez and Not Patterson?

Here’s where it gets a little spicy. Patterson was sensational for the Dolphins in 2025 and had every reason to return. So why is Gonzalez walking through the door instead?

Money, almost certainly. Patterson set the market with his 2025 performance, and after a 93.1 percent accuracy season, he wasn’t coming back on a bargain deal. The Dolphins, eyeing their cap situation carefully, appear to have opted for the more cost-efficient veteran option. Gonzalez’s career success rate sits at 81 percent below both Sanders (84.6%) and Patterson (87.4%), but he’s coming off a strong season and brings the experience of someone who has been tested in all kinds of situations.

For a team trying to build around a new quarterback and fill multiple holes on special teams, they still need a long snapper and a punter. By the way, keeping the kicker position affordable makes some financial sense

A Career Built on Resilience

Here’s what you don’t see in the stat lines: the mental fortitude it takes to keep earning NFL jobs after being cut, traded, waived, and shuffled across the league for nearly a decade. Gonzalez has been released, signed, elevated from practice squads, traded in March, placed on injured reserve in September, and yet he keeps coming back.

There’s something genuinely admirable about that. Not every player who gets cut in Cleveland at 22 years old finds their footing and builds a nine-year NFL career. Gonzalez did. Whatever happens in Miami, the man has already proven he belongs.

What’s Next for the Dolphins’ Special Teams Unit

With Gonzalez locked in, the Dolphins still have work to do on special teams. Veteran long snapper Joe Cardona is gone to the Los Angeles Rams on a two-year deal, and punter Jake Bailey has reunited with former Dolphins special teams coordinator Craig Aukerman in Atlanta on a three-year contract.

So Miami has its kicker. Now they need a punter and a long snapper. Special teams might not sell jerseys, but it wins games, and the Dolphins’ front office knows that better than most after watching what Patterson did for them last season.

Gonzalez gets his shot. No more tryouts, no more practice squad stints. This time, the job is his to keep.