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Jake Bailey Wins Dolphins Punting Battle

Originally posted on Dolphins Talk | By Mike Oliva | Last updated Aug 19, 2025 4:20 PM ET

Jake Bailey Wins Dolphins Punting Battle

The Miami Dolphins have decided on their punter for 2025, and it will be Jake Bailey.

Ryan Stonehouse will be released soon.

In 2024, the Dolphins re-signed Jake Bailey to a two-year deal at $2.1 million a year, $4.2 million total, which can go up to $5 million with incentives.

Bailey was 30th in punting with a 45.7-yard average and 24th in net punting yardage in 2024.

In 2025, Bailey had a 47.1-yard per punt average, with a net punting average of 40.7.

If you are a PFF person, he did rank 7th out of 39 punters overall last year with their metrics and system.

Dolphins ST coordinator Craig Aukerman says Jake Bailey has won the team’s punting competition pic.twitter.com/W08g52KbC6

— Marcel Louis-Jacques (@Marcel_LJ) August 19, 2025

The Dolphins signed Stonehouse this past offseason and may have thought he had the inside track to win the job.

New Miami Dolphins special teams coordinator Craig Aukerman was with the Titans the first two years Stonehouse was in the league and when Stonehouse led the NFL in yards per punt in back-to-back seasons.

Stonehouse went undrafted in 2022 and has spent his entire NFL career with the Titans. In 2022, he was the second-team all-pro and the NFL punting yards leader.

He led the league with 53.1 yards per punt both in 2022 and 2023.

Last season with the Titans, he averaged 50.6 yards per punt.

Special teams have been a pain point on the Dolphins for many seasons now.

Former Special teams coordinator Danny Crossman’s units underachieved each year and seemed to hurt the Dolphins more than help them.

Through two preseason games (and yes, they are only preseason games), the Dolphins’ special teams have looked fantastic and appear to have done a 180.

If that rolls over into the regular season, it will be a huge help to both sides of the football in the battle for field position and when it comes to flipping the field.

Bailey has a knack for shanking kicks, and that is still a concern for many fans who follow the team closely.

Maybe, though, with a new coach and having to go through a competition, he has raised his game and improved.

Time will tell.

This article first appeared on Dolphins Talk and was syndicated with permission.

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