The Dolphins signed wide receiver Brett Perriman to a one-year contract on Wednesday. He was released by the Kansas City Chiefs on Tuesday.

Perriman, who will be 32 on Friday, had asked for his release, and said he chose the Dolphins over the Detroit Lions, Chicago Bears, Denver Broncos and New York Giants. Neither the team nor Drew Rosenhaus, Perriman’s agent, would comment on the terms. There were indications that the Dolphins would pay $425,000, the amount remaining of the original contract with the Chiefs. It was $750,000 with $250,000 incentives.

“It was a question of coming home,” said Perriman, who played for the University of Miami and still lives in Miami. “I admired the Dolphins growing up. They are a team with a chance to make the playoffs. I’ll help anyway that I can.”

Perriman, who injured a hamstring during training camp, had only six catches for 83 yards in five games. He indicated Chiefs’ quarterback Elvis Grbac became familiar with other receivers while he was injured.

“They were good people in Kansas City,” Perriman said. “It was a good organization and Marty [Schottenheimer) was a good coach. Things weren’t working out so I went another way.”

Schottenheimer said Perriman couldn’t do the job in Kansas City.

“He never gave us the evidence that he could be the speed player who would be productive,” Schottenheimer said. “That was it.”

Coach Jimmy Johnson, who coached Perriman at UM, wouldn’t speculate on his role with the Dolphins. He said that Perriman would be inactive Sunday against the New York Jets.

“We’re aware how productive Brett was in Detroit,” Johnson said. “He caught 94 passes there in 1996. We’ve watched all of his tapes from there, and we saw what he’d done for the Chiefs in our game preparations.”

Perriman doesn’t know if the Dolphins use the same numbering system used by Johnson and offensive coordinator Gary Stevens at Miami, but if so, it could expedite his availability.

“I’ll know a lot more about it after a couple of days,” said Perriman who is the Lions’ second all-time leading receiver behind Herman Moore. “I know the Dolphins’ receivers have been the talk of the town, but I believe that they are talented people.”

Knee bothers Ruddy

Center Tim Ruddy was unable to practice Wednesday because of a sore knee, and Johnson said his condition is a concern. If Ruddy can’t play against the Jets, John Bock will replace him.

“He tried but couldn’t do much,” Johnson said. “He played most of the game against the Chiefs with it giving him trouble, and it hurt his effectiveness.” FB Dewayne Dotson said his left knee still isn’t 100 percent following recent arthroscopic surgery to remove loose bodies.

WR Alex Van Dyke (hamstring) is doubtful for the Jets.

Happy to be winning

Coach Bill Parcells and linebacker Marvin Jones have no problem drawing drastic parallels between the 4-2 Jets of 1997 and the 1-15 team of last year.

“At 1-15, you don’t really have a team,” Parcells said. “It’s just a bunch of guys playing football. Every week is a little bit of a novelty. Our guys understand that we have to be pretty sharp for us to have a chance to win.”

Jones said it wasn’t easy being 1-15, and it’s not something he wants to go through again.

“You get depressed a lot of times,” Jones said. “It was something that you couldn’t imagine. I learned a lot, but I want to bust my butt and make sure that it doesn’t happen again. We had a positive attitude right away. You didn’t know what to expect, but you learned right away. If you’re a dumb player, you won’t be on the field.”

Parcells said his team and the Dolphins are improved, but he isn’t sure how much. “It’s early in the season,” he said. “You don’t pass judgment until the 10th or 11th week.”

World Series switch

The Dolphins will move their Oct. 26 home game against the Chicago Bears to Monday night, Oct. 27, if the Marlins play the seventh game of the World Series at Pro Player Stadium.