It didn’t take long for Marcus Sherels to find a new team
By Adam Patrick
Recently let go by the Minnesota Vikings, the team’s former punt returner landed with a new squad on Tuesday when he was signed by the Miami Dolphins.
When he was given a shot to make the roster as an undrafted rookie by the Minnesota Vikings in 2010, no one really expected much from Marcus Sherels. But he actually ended up finding his way onto the Vikings’ active roster that year and that was the beginning of a career full of proving people wrong for Sherels.
Since he was a bit undersized to be an effective defensive back in the NFL, he ultimately found a role with Minnesota as the team’s return specialist. Sherels was the Vikings’ full-time punt returner from 2011 to 2018 and he even had a brief stint with the team this season.
His tenure with Minnesota this year only ended up lasting a few weeks before the team let him go at the end of October and his punt return duties were handed over to Mike Hughes.
Known as a returner who teams can trust to rarely make a mistake, Sherels has now been given another opportunity to extend his career in the NFL. Along with a few other roster moves, the Miami Dolphins announced on Tuesday that they had agreed to a deal with the former Vikings return-man.
The Dolphins had been using rookie Preston Williams to return punts in their last few games, but he went down with a season-ending knee injury during the team’s win over the New York Jets last week. So now, Miami will roll with Sherels as their punt returner for the remainder of the year.
When Sherels is eventually active for the Dolphins this season, it will be the very first time in his career he will be suiting up for an NFL regular season game in colors that don’t belong to Minnesota. He did spend this past preseason as a member of the New Orleans Saints, but he never ended up appearing in a regular season game for them.
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The Dolphins may be one of the worst teams in the league right now, but at least Sherels gets to spend his winter in sunny south Florida this year and not in the frigid Twin Cities.