AFC East Team Cuts Former Titans Punter

When former Tennessee Titans special teams coordinator Craig Aukerman agreed to take the same post with the Miami Dolphins, one of his first moves was to sign his former player, punter Ryan Stonehouse to compete with the incumbent Jake Bailey.

There were rumblings out of the Baptist Health Training Facility Stonehouse would win the job simply due to the fact Aukerman was familiar with him and had just coached him in Tennessee.

Such was not the case. Aukerman sided with Bailey and the Dolphins waived Stonehouse late Tuesday afternoon.

Stonehouse received a $75,000 signing bonus, according to spotrac.com. He was due to make $1.725 million should he have made the team. There were no other guarantees. Stonehouse was on the waiver wire as of 4 p.m ET.

Bailey stepped up this training camp and throughout the two preseason games. In the game against the Detroit Lions when his two punts went for a 54.5 average, with the same net average and one downed inside the 20, a 59-yard sonic blast from the Miami 32 that forced Detroit to start its next drive inside their own 10-yard line,

“They did a really good job, competitive every single day. Again, really proud of them. I know Ryan is gonna be punting somewhere in the National Football League," Aukerman said. "We just felt going forward that Jake would be our guy. Really happy with the consistency that he's been throughout camp, whether it's field punts plus 50, the preseason games, super proud to work with him and excited for him too because I know he's to have a great year.”

The difference between the two ultimately came down to the fact Bailey performed better in the two preseason games and kicker Jason Sanders was more comfortable with him holding for him on placements.

“Everything, everything, and it was exciting to see Jake hit a bunch of really good footballs, like he had three field punts all over 50 yards and all over 5.0 on the hang time," Aukerman said. "So I wouldn't say it's just one thing. It was a little bit of everything that we took into consideration for him to win the job.”

Aukerman said it was difficult to cut Stonehouse, who is not too far removed from a Pro Bowl selection. He said the conversation was rather emotional and difficult to have.

“Yeah, extremely difficult. When I told him today, and he knew this going into it, I had the same situation when Ryan came in as a rookie with Brett Kern. Brett Kern is the best all-time punter in Tennessee Titans history," Aukerman said. "All-Pro, Pro Bowl player, and we had to make a move and decided to go with Ryan instead of Brett Kern. So it was very difficult because he's a great person, a great teammate, and a great punter, and it's always tough to go through those situations, but at the end of the day, that's what we're here to do as coaches, make those difficult decisions, and what we feel is best for the football team going forward.”