At long last, after months and months of sitting on the open market, former Green Bay Packers cornerback Rasul Douglas has finally found a new home, as the soon-to-be 31-year-old (his birthday is on Friday) has reportedly agreed to a one-year, $3 million deal with the Miami Dolphins.
Taken by the Philadelphia Eagles in the third round of the 2017 draft with the 99th overall pick, the West Virginia alum helped the Birds to the franchise's first-ever Super Bowl victory with a solid rookie campaign, racking up 11 passes defended and a pair of interceptions while also serving as a strong contributor on special teams.
After a three-year run with the Eagles, during which he made 18 starts, Douglas was waived ahead of the 2020 campaign, at which point he was claimed by the Carolina Panthers, with whom he spent one season, making 11 starts.
Former Packers cornerback Rasul Douglas finds a new home after signing with Dolphins
Ahead of the 2021 season, the New Jersey native had short stints with the Las Vegas Raiders, Houston Texans, and Arizona Cardinals before finding his way to the Packers, who picked him up off the Cardinals' practice squad in early October after Jaire Alexander and Kevin King each suffered injuries.
The move worked out wonderfully for Green Bay, as Douglas stepped in and tallied 57 total tackles, 13 passes defended, and five interceptions, two of which he returned for touchdowns, thus earning himself a three-year, $21 million extension.
He had another strong season in 2022, racking up a career-high 85 total tackles, another 13 passes defended, four more interceptions, and even his first career sack.
Douglas was on his way to another solid campaign in 2023, but in a surprising turn of events just ahead of the trade deadline, he was shipped to the Buffalo Bills, a deal that was heavily criticized immediately and only looked worse when he recorded a pair of picks in just his second game with his new team, adding another pair later in the year.
Green Bay general manager Brian Gutekunst later explained that the Bills' offer was just too good to pass up, also saying the move was made to help with the salary cap. And to be honest, the deal doesn't look nearly as bad now, as the draft pick the Packers received was used on Ty'Ron Hopper, who looks great heading into the 2025 season.
It also helps that Douglas didn't look his best for Buffalo in 2024, as he earned the second-lowest overall PFF grade of his career at 53.9, his lowest being the 52.4 mark he received during his final year in Philadelphia. And perhaps that's why he was a free agent for as long as he was. Naturally, given the issues Green Bay has at cornerback, there were rumors of a reunion this summer, but Douglas himself shut those down pretty quickly.
Now, he heads to a Dolphins team that's had plenty of cornerback issues of its own. In addition to trading away Jalen Ramsey, free agent acquisition Artie Burns tore an ACL on the opening day of training camp, and their only returning starter, Kader Kohou suffered the same fate soon after.
In a frenzy of signings in a short period, Miami brought in Cornell Armstrong, Mike Hilton, and Jack Jones, and then added Cameron Dantzler during the final week of the preseason. Dantzler has already been released, and Hilton is gone as well.
As such, Jones and undrafted free agent Storm Duck looked to be in line for the starting roles, so one would think Douglas, who's now the most experienced corner on the roster, has a good shot to crack the starting lineup in Week 1.