The Miami Dolphins have completely turned over their roster this offseason, as the team has announced a major rebuild to the rest of the league. With several of their top players from 2025 no longer in town, the Dolphins are embracing a youth movement, with the hope being that they can unearth some diamonds in the rough to help them kickstart this rebuild.
Of course, the best avenue for the team to accomplish that came during the 2026 NFL Draft, where Miami made 13 selections. But the team has remained active in the wake of the draft, and that recently led them to take a flier on defensive tackle James Ester, who was recently released by the Green Bay Packers.
Dolphins Claim James Ester Off Waivers
When you have the sort of talent exodus that the Dolphins have endured this offseason, you have to get creative when it comes to finding players to fill out your roster. The undrafted free agent market is a good spot to find unheralded talent, but the waiver wire is also beginning to get a bit more active as teams continue to shake things up in the wake of the draft.
For the Packers, that led to Ester getting released. An undrafted free agent himself, Ester has spent the past two years with the Packers, but he has yet to take the field for his NFL debut. Green Bay decided to finally cut bait with Ester, but it didn’t take him very long to find a new home.
That home ended up being with Miami, whose new general manager (Jon-Eric Sullivan) and head coach (Jeff Hafley) are both familiar with Ester from their shared time together in Green Bay. That familiarity led to the Dolphins claiming Ester off waivers, giving him a shot to carve out a role for himself with the team ahead of the upcoming 2026 campaign.
“The Dolphins claimed DT James Ester off waivers from Green Bay,” Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reported in a post on X.
James Ester Faces Long Odds to Make the Dolphins Roster
GettyThe Dolphins have claimed former Packers defensive tackle James Ester off waivers
Ester may not have played at all for the Packers during his time with the team, but he gained a lot of experience working with Hafley, who was Green Bay’s defensive coordinator for the past two seasons. So while Ester is arriving a little bit late to the party, his prior work with Hafley should help him quickly find his footing as he gets settled in with Miami.
Still, the fact that Ester is arriving in town at this time isn’t exactly great when it comes to his hopes of sticking with the team. Realistically speaking, Ester is probably competing for a spot on the practice squad at this stage of the game, but at some point, he’s likely going to be hoping to make his debut in the pros. There are plenty of snaps up for grabs on the Dolphins’ defense, though, so who knows, maybe he will surprise folks and earn himself a spot on the roster.
Dolphins Claim Former Packers Defensive Lineman After Recent Release