MIAMI — On a night where every Miami Dolphins player of significance that wasn’t a rookie sat, Tyrel Dodson and Willie Gay Jr. clocked in for work.

Dodson and Gay Jr., who have 100 NFL starts between them, played the entire first half of a meaningless preseason loss to the Atlanta Falcons, and that has to be unsettling because of the question it raises?

Are Dodson and Gay expendable to a talent deprived Dolphins team?

“No matter where I’m I am, I ball,” said Dodson, who entered the league as an undrafted player from Texas A&M, and worked his way up the ranks, going from practice squad player to NFL starter, which he’s been the majority of the past two seasons. “If I’m not playing for this team I’m playing for 31 [other] teams, and I’m balling. That’s the message I gave myself this morning.”

Veterans are often pushed out for youngsters, especially when a new regime arrives, and that’s a possibility for both of these seven-year veterans.

That’s why Dodson and Gay will likely be biting their finger nails this weekend waiting to learn if they survive Miami’s roster cuts, making it onto this year’s version of the Dolphins when the training camp roster is trimmed from 90 to 53 this weekend.

Here is the dirty, underbelly of the NFL that few talk about publicly.

If a vested veteran — a player with four or more years of NFL experience — is on the active, or inactive roster for the first game of the season their entire contract becomes guaranteed.

Any vested veteran signed after week one is paid week to week, which provides an organization some roster flexibility.

The Dolphins admittedly plan to churn the bottom of the roster all season, working to improve the team’s talent base by claiming players off the waiver wire, and poaching practice squad players from other teams, so having that kind of flexibility is beneficial.

If released, Dodson and Gay could find work elsewhere, joining another franchise that has linebacker needs, and are willing to make that financial commitment to both veterans.

However, most teams wait till week two to sign veteran players to avoid the financial commitment. Some teams commit to re-signing their veterans in week two, or place them on the practice squad for week one, with the promise of elevating them in week two.

That’s the business side of the NFL, and it often has nothing to do with football ability.

Even though Miami’s linebacker unit has been decimated by injuries this training camp and preseason with Jordyn Brooks (right leg), Trey Moore (left ankle) and Jacob Rodriguez (unknown) having been sidelined by injuries, the amount of snaps Dodson and Gay took during the preseason’s three games hints that this regime views the veterans as expendable pieces.

Dodson, who started all 16 games for the Dolphins last season, tallying 129 tackles, five sacks and pulling down one interception, has been in the most headed camp battle as he’s been pushed by Rodriguez.

Dodson, who is slotted to make $3 million this season, could be viewed as a progress stopper for the team’s second-round pick, and that’s one of the worst labels a veteran player can have, especially on a young team.

Gay entered the league as a 2020 second-round pick, and started eight of the 16 games he played his rookie season for the Kansas City Chiefs. All but 10 of his 57 NFL starters were with the Chiefs. But since leaving the franchise he won two Super Bowl’s with, Gay has struggled to re-establish himself as an NFL starter.

And here he is, on the roster bubble.

Gay sparingly played last season, contributing 20 tackles and two sacks in the 113 defense snaps he took last season for the Dolphins.

He re-signed in Miami for a little more than the NFL minimum ($1.4 million) hoping he’d get a fresh start with a new coaching staff. But the former Mississippi State standout got edged out by Moore, the team’s 2026 fourth-round pick, for the starting strong side linebacker role early in training camp.

With Moore sidelined by a left ankle injury that required surgery, and will likely get the rookie placed on injury reserve in the coming days, Gay is seemingly getting first crack at being his replacement.

Gay pulled in a fumble on a ball quarterback Tua Tagovailoa dropped in a fumbled quarter-to-center exchange on Atlanta’s second offensive drive, but he committed a penalty on special teams, and allowed a deep reception after letting a Falcons tailback get behind him on a wheel route.

Dodson forced a fumble, stripping the ball from Falcons tailback Brian Robinson Jr., allowing Jackson Woodard to recover the ball.

It was the type of hustle play the Dolphins have become accustomed to getting from him the past two seasons.

But will it be enough to keep him safe?

Only time, and next week’s cuts will reveal that.

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