The Dolphins have signed 28-year old linebacker Karlos Dansby to a 5-year, $43 million dollar deal of which $22 million bucks are guaranteed.  Dansby played in all 16 games for the Cardinals last season and he made 109 tackles, 6 tackles for a loss, forced a fumble, had 1 sack, defensed 1 pass and he had 1 interception.  Dansby has played in 90 games in his NFL career and he has made 555 tackles, defensed 29 passes, forced 12 fumbles, has 25.5 sacks and he has 10 interceptions (two of which he returned for TDs).  This was a outstanding signing for the Dolphins as Dansby is a hard nosed player who makes plays.

The Dolphins have re-signed 33-year old QB Chad Pennington to a 1-year, $2.5 million dollar deal.  Pennington played in 3 games for the Dolphins last season and he completed 51 of 74 passes (68.9%) for 413 yards with 1 TD pass and 2 INTs (76.0 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 3 times for 7 yards (2.3 ypc) last season.  Pennington has now played two years for the Dolphins appearing in 19 games in which he has completed 372 of 550 passes (67.6%) for 4,066 yards with 20 TD passes and 9 INTs (94.6 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 33 times for 69 yards (2.1 ypc) with 1 TD run in his time with the Fins.  The Dolphins have said that Chad Henne is the starting QB but don’t think for a minute that Pennington will be content to be a backup if he is healthy.

The Dolphins have released linebacker Akin Ayodele.  Ayodele played in all 16 games for the Dolphins last season in which he made 71 tackles, 3 tackles for a loss and 1 forced fumble.  He played in 32 games in his two years with the Dolphins and he made 146 tackles, defensed 4 passes, forced 1 fumble and he intercepted 2 passes.  The Dolphins will look to improve on Ayodele in 2010.

The Dolphins have released 32-year old OLB Joey Porter.  Porter played in 14 games for the Dolphins last season and he had 41 tackles, 9 sacks, 3 tackles for a loss, 1 forced fumble and 1 pass defensed.  Porter played in 46 games in his three years with the Dolphins in which he made 153 tackles, defensed 7 passes, had 32 sacks, forced 6 fumbles and he picked off 2 passes.  It’s the off field headaches that Porter caused last season which will have him looking for a new job.  He still has some game left and he won’t be easy for the Dolphins to replace in 2010.

The Dolphins have released 28-year old safety Gibril Wilson.  Wilson played in all 16 games for the Dolphins last season and he made 93 tackles, defensed 8 passes and he had 1 sack.  I’m thinking that maybe Wilson didn’t make enough big plays for the Dolphins despite being solid against the run.  It will be interesting to see who the Dolphins use to replace Wilson in the starting lineup in 2010.