The Miami Dolphins are releasing journeyman defensive back Keion Crossen in an attempt to save salary cap space in 2024.
Crossen, who has been with the Dolphins since 2022, did not play at all for the dolphins after suffering a season-ending leg injury before the season began. The move will save the Dolphins about $3 million in cap space.
Miami Dolphins defensive back Keion Crossen has been around the league
Keion Crossen was drafted in the final round of the 2018 draft by the New England Patriots and head coach at the time Bill Belichick. Crossen, who played for Western Carolina, played a small role on the Patriots defense that year, but he was able to do enough to be a part of the Houston Texans in 2019.
Crossen would stay with the Houston Texans until 2020, the most productive year of his career. Despite a career-best year, Crossen found a new team in 2021, the New York Giants.
Crossen marginally contributed to the Giants, but it wasn’t enough for them to keep him around for longer than a year. Crossen then went on to sign with the Miami Dolphins and he explained why in an Aol article.
“It’s been good, man,” Crossen said. “We’re all coming together as a team. The main thing is one goal, one team. The ultimate goal is to win a super bowl, but that comes with practice and the season ahead of us. I’m just taking it day by day. (McDaniel), he’s a high-spirited guy. He’s almost like one of the guys. Obviously, we have the utmost respect for coach McDaniel. He allows us to play fast, play aggressive, and have fun.
“I started my career with Josh Boyer. I know the special teams coach. He’s treated me well. His group is coached really, really well. I’m really about family. I’m a family man. I want to be with a team that’s going to work hard and is going to win and [have] good coaching. That’s why I chose Miami. The taxes down there aren’t too bad, either.”
The Dolphins are in a tough spot in terms of salary cap as they are in the bottom 5 salary cap situations in the league. This makes the decision to move on from someone with such uncertainty in their future due to a season-ending injury a necessity for the Dolphins.
Miami Dolphins defensive back Keion Crossen wasn’t injury-prone before 2023
Before his season-ending injury, Miami Dolphins defensive back Keion Crossen played in 16 games in every year in the NFL outside of his rookie year.
While Crossen was never able to find himself in a major role in an NFL defense, he was able to be a solid contributor for the Texans and the Dolphins. Crossen had a career-high 46 tackles with the Texans in 2020 along with five pass deflections in what would be his most productive year in the NFL.
Crossen had 32 tackles and four pass deflections in 2022 with the Dolphins, but his impact on the field goes beyond the stats. This play against the Buffalo Bills meant a lot more than the one pass deflection it may have counted for on the stat sheet.
this play by keion crossen was a game changer pic.twitter.com/dUATDvPpmO
— josh houtz (@houtz) September 27, 2022
While a season-ending injury in any capacity will raise the alarms of NFL teams, Crossen has been pretty consistently healthy throughout his career. Should a team take a chance on him as a secondary depth-piece, he likely won’t cost very much.
Get More NFL and College Football Content
For more news and trends in the college football world, click here or follow me on Twitter @KusleikaAndrew.