Pro Football Rumors
After going undrafted from BYU in 2021, Dolphins safety Zayne Anderson divided his first five NFL seasons between Kansas City and Green Bay. He barely factored in on defense with either club, both of which primarily used him on special teams.
A couple of weeks after the Packers declined to tender him a contract as a restricted free agent, Anderson accepted the Dolphins’ one-year, $1.4MM offer in early March. The move could set Anderson up to take on the largest defensive role of his career in 2026. The 29-year-old should be considered the “front-runner” to start at safety opposite Dante Trader Jr. when the Dolphins open training camp in late July, according to Omar Kelly of the Miami Herald.
The Dolphins are looking for two new starters to emerge after trading Minkah Fitzpatrick to the Jets and losing Ashtyn Davis and Ifeatu Melifonwu in free agency. Anderson’s familiarity with the first-year head coach-defensive coordinator tandem of Jeff Hafley and Sean Duggan could augur well for him. He spent the previous two years in Green Bay, where Hafley was the D-coordinator and Duggan a defensive assistant/linebackers coach. Anderson only played 145 defensive snaps from 2024-25, but he impressed Hafley over that limited sample size.
“He’s very unselfish. He knows what he’s doing,” Hafley said (via Kelly). “He studies it really hard, and he’s a guy that has worked really hard to put himself in a position to where he is now. I think for me, it always comes back to trust. I trust the guy.”
Anderson has appeared in 47 games in the pros and logged yearly special teams snap shares ranging from 51 to 69 percent. He has made just two starts at safety, both of which were in Hafley’s defense in 2024. He recorded 16 tackles, deflected two passes and pulled in the lone interception of his career over 122 snaps that year. Hafley and Duggan left a positive impression on Anderson in Green Bay, which factored into his decision to sign with Miami.
“Those guys helped me become a better football player,” he said. “Why would I not want to come here? I felt like there was some opportunity down here, and I needed to make a move.”
Even if Anderson does not win a starting spot, his history as a capable special teamer could help him stick on the roster. The same may be true for fellow free agent safety addition Lonnie Johnson Jr., though Kelly notes the lack of guaranteed money in his $1.3MM pact may put him behind Anderson in the pecking order. The Dolphins guaranteed $565K to Anderson, who will attempt to fend off Johnson, fifth-round rookie Michael Taaffe, UDFA Louis Moore and Major Burns for a starting job.
