Dolphins bring Bridgewater home, keeping DE Emmanuel Ogbah

Updated Mar. 14, 2022 5:30 p.m. ET

Associated Press

Among the wishes for the Miami Dolphins in free agency: keeping pass rusher Emmanuel Ogbah, along with adding a running back and upgrading in the quarterback room.

The Dolphins moved quickly to check all those boxes.

Miami native Teddy Bridgewater agreed to come home Monday, presumably to be Tua Tagovailoa's backup at quarterback. Bridgewater agreed to a one-year deal, according to a person with direct knowledge of the negotiations who spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because the contract has not been finalized.

The Dolphins will become Bridgewater's fifth NFL team and his fourth in the past four years. He went 7-7 in 14 starts for Denver this past season, plus has played for Carolina, New Orleans and Minnesota.

Ogbah has agreed to a four-year contract that could be worth $65 million, and running back Chase Edmonds has agreed to a two-year, $12.6 million deal. Both moves were confirmed by agent Drew Rosenhaus, who represents both players.

Ogbah, who receives $32 million guaranteed, can sign at any time since he’s returning to the Dolphins, who have plenty of cap room. Edmonds, who gets about $6 million in guaranteed money, cannot sign before Wednesday.

In each of his first two seasons with Miami, Ogbah had nine sacks. Dolphins general manager Chris Grier revealed earlier this month that he had multiple conversations with Rosenhaus about a new deal, indicating Miami wasn’t going to let Ogbah get away easily.

“Those were going on all throughout the course of the season,” Grier said earlier this month. “We talked to him at multiple points in the season. We know what he is, he’s a good guy, good player, good person, and fits all of the criteria we’re looking for and has done a nice job for us for the last two years.”

The upgrade at running back was crucial after the Dolphins ranked 30th in the 32-team NFL in rushing yards this past season. Miami was the only team in the league that didn’t have a rush go for longer than 30 yards.

Edmonds appeared in 57 games over his first four NFL seasons, all with Arizona — which agreed to bring back Pro Bowl RB James Conner on a three-year deal earlier Monday, rewarding him for his franchise-record 18 total touchdowns this past season.

Edmonds had career bests in 2021 with 116 carries for 592 yards, averaging 5.1 yards per rush.

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