Former Jet Quinton Coples returns as a Dolphin

All Quinton Coples wanted was to have his hand in the dirt.

Well, it seems he'll finally get the chance to do that -- starting Sunday against his old team.

The former first-round pick of the Jets was claimed off waivers Tuesday by the Miami Dolphins, just a day after his release. And he's excited about returning to his roots as a 4-3 defensive end.

"It makes me happy a lot," Coples told Miami reporters this past week, according to the Sun-Sentinel.

His former coach, Todd Bowles, didn't seem too worried about game-planning for him, though.

"We're playing against the Dolphins," Bowles said matter-of-factly when asked about Coples. "He's just part of them now so he's another guy. It's no different from preparing for [Ndamukong] Suh or anybody else."

What about Coples divulging Jets intel to his new team?

"Schematically, he knows our base defense and the sub defense and some of the things that we do, I'm sure. But they can get some of that looking at film as well," Bowles said.

Coples' four-year tenure with the Jets was marred by failed expectations and a lack of production. But the 16th overall pick -- who was criticized in the lead-up to the 2012 draft for his inconsistency at North Carolina -- also was a victim of circumstance to some degree.

After his rookie season, former Jets coach Rex Ryan moved the 6-6 Coples to outside linebacker, a position that didn't suit his speed or 290-pound frame.

Bowles' arrival signified a new beginning for Coples, who thought he'd return to his pass-rushing ways and increase his sack total.

"Ten isn't good enough. Got to keep going, the highest of the highest. Whatever number is possible. Sky is the limit," Coples said in training camp.

But those big numbers never came. Instead, he had zero sacks and only eight tackles while playing limited minutes in 10 games.

In four years with the Jets, he recorded 161/2 sacks, 114 tackles, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery.

Now, in Miami, he has a fresh start and the support of Mike Tannenbaum.

"He was the guy that drafted me," Coples said of the former Jets general manager, who was hired as the Dolphins' executive vice president of football operations in February. "He knows my potential, he knows what I can do, so it was a great reunion for us."

Dolphins interim coach Dan Campbell said he's seen Coples progress since he joined the team, but it's unclear how much of a role the former Jet will have Sunday against his former team.

"I see a guy who has looked better every day, looked a little more comfortable with what we're trying to do," Campbell said.

"Again, as crazy as it sounds, it's a little bit of an adjustment from what he's been doing. I mean, he's primarily spent his career standing up in a two-point; now we're putting him back in a three-point.

" . . . I feel like he's progressed, though, the way you'd like to for a guy who's been here a week."