Miami Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland maintained all offseason that Dan Carpenter and rookie Caleb Sturgis would stage a training-camp battle to become the team's starting kicker. That battle is over.
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Carpenter has been released, the Dolphins announced Wednesday.
The move comes as no great surprise, considering Carpenter's prohibitive price tag. He was due $2.675 million in 2013, more than Sturgis -- the Dolphins' fifth-round draft pick -- will cost over the next four seasons.
Carpenter needed a white-hot training camp to keep his job. He hit two field goals against the Dallas Cowboys in the preseason opener, but he didn't attempt one in Friday's 27-3 win over the Jaguars. Sturgis, meanwhile, nailed a 58-yarder against Jacksonville.
Making the news especially raw for Carpenter, The Miami Herald reports his wife "is due any moment" with the couple's first child.
Carpenter -- now one of the better kickers on the open market -- shouldn't be out of work for long. For the baby's sake, we hope he finds another gig pronto.
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