Daryn Colledge has been a professional for the Miami Dolphins

There comes a time for everyone – regardless of how good one might be – where retirement becomes one of the only options a player has in the NFL. For Daryn Colledge, who signed with the Miami Dolphins after Mike Pouncey had surgery, may be playing for the last time in the NFL on Sunday.

Colledge has played nine years in the NFL as a member of the Green Bay Packers for five, Arizona Cardinals for three and the Dolphins for one. However, despite the speculation that this may be it, Colledge says he hasn’t even thought about what will come afterwards. Instead, he wanted to reflect more on what happened this season with the Dolphins.

“I loved it. Joe (Philbin) was exactly who I thought he would be. A big reason I came here was because of Joe. He was the coach I remember and the guy I wanted to play for. I was excited for the opportunity. I’m only disappointed that we didn’t go as far as I thought this team could, because we’ve got the talent, we need to find a way to play all of the games four quarters and we didn’t. We let some stuff slip away. I think we were a team that could have been dangerous in the playoffs, but we needed to win one more game and we didn’t get that done.”

Continuing the theme of how Philbin played such a big role in him coming back to play, Colledge said that he is one of the most respected coaches around the league.

“It’s really kind of hard to put in words. You’ve got to be a football player to understand, coaches respect coaches and players respect players. When you see a guy playing, you know what they’re overcoming and what they’re achieving and what they’re accomplishing with the way they work and I think Joe is doing that. I look at Joe and his role has changed obviously since the last time we played together, but I think he’s grasped our role and he’s gotten the right guys around him. This team is going to buy into that and hopefully they can keep going forward and be a force next year. I think he’s got the talent around him and a talented coaching staff that he’s got a future here.”

Ryan Tannehill, who lined up behind Colledge for the vast majority of the season, said that Colledge is a football player and one who is going to fight hard, no matter what the situation may be.

“He’s been around, he’s a veteran guy. He plays well when he’s out there. He’s fought through some injuries. He’s tough and he’s a good guy to have in the locker room and the huddle. He’s a light-hearted guy, he jokes around. He brings a veteran perspective, but also some lightheartedness to the huddle, to the team. He’s a great player to have.”  

Philbin said that Colledge has been a professional and has contributed a lot to the team this season.

“I thought he played well. I thought he made a very good contribution to the football team. All the things that I remembered about him are still the same. He’s very very professional in everything he does. He prepares extremely well. He’s a team guy. I’ve been pleased with what he’s done for the ball club.”

Colledge has been average at best for the Dolphins, but did well considering the circumstances of how he was thrown into the fire so quickly. The Dolphins will no doubt look to upgrade in the season but he should be commended for the job he did in 2014.

This story was written by Matthew Cannata. Follow him on Twitter: @PhinManiacs

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