Miami Dolphins’ final cut: Who should go?
By bobhoffman
Jun 11, 2013; Davie, FL, USA; Miami Dolphins tight end Kyle Miller (left) runs away from Jelani Jenkins (right) during minicamp at the Doctors Hospital Training Facility at Nova Southeastern University. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
After the latest round of player cuts on Tuesday afternoon, the Miami Dolphins roster currently stands at 75 players. By Saturday at 6 pm, the brain trust in Davie must shave 22 names to get down to the 53 player limit. In fact, since its likely Miami will want to add a few castoffs from other teams lets figure on 25 players getting a pink slip in the next few days. So who will be the unlucky 25? That’s anybody’s guess but here is one opinion of who should pack up their lockers
1. Aaron Corp – the former Richmond by way of USC signal caller was never more than a body to keep the other quarterbacks on the roster fresh.
2. Jonas Gray – Gray has shown promise as a short-yardage back but his fumble against Tampa Bay should give Miami some hope that he can be stashed on the practice squad. Third string running backs don’t merit too much value in the NFL so it’s a risk worth taking.
3. Mike Gillisee – Let me go on the record and say that I think that the ex-gator makes the roster but really what he has done this preseason to deserve it? His status as a a drafted rookie probably saves him, especially since Miami may not get a whole lot of production initially out of their other draftees.
4. Keenan Davis, 5. Rishard Matthews, 6. Brian Tyms – This is more about who Miami should keep than who they shouldn’t. Considering that Mike Wallace, Brandon Gibson, and Brian Hartline are roster locks that leaves two likely spots. I’d give those to McNutt a big target and Bumphis a fearless receiver who flashed early in camp but has had problems since. You gamble on talent in this business and Bumphis has it.
7.Kyle Miller – He is a pedestrian tight end and quite simply Miami needs better.
8. Chris Barker, 9. Jeff Adams, 10. Andrew McDonald, 11. Sam Brenner, 12. Josh Samuda – Have you seen Miami’s back-up offensive line this preseason? I think Samuda stays and cutting five lineman would leave Miami thin on the line so this isn’t an optimum situation regardless of what happens.
13. Tracy Robertson – Who? Exactly the point.
14. Vaughn Martin – This might be surprising to some but we have seen enough out of Kheeston Randall and A.J. Francis to determine the two youngsters are worth developing especially with Randy Starks, Jared Odrick, and Paul Soliai getting the majority of the game reps.
15. Antwan Applewhite, 16. Tristan Okpalaugo – The latter has flashed a lot of talent but it’s been primarily against NFL 3rd and 4th stringers. That’s enough to try and stash him on the practice squad.
17. Jonathan Freeny, 18. Lee Robinson – These are the easier linebackers of the whole group to pink slip.
19. Austin Spitler and 20. Jelani Jenkins – It really comes down to Spitler, Jenkins, Jason Trusnik and Josh Kaddu. I think Miami keeps two and special teams will be a huge consideration. To me this is the proverbial coin flip but Kaddu has the most upside as a linebacker which is why I would go in this direction. Trusnik gives the team a core special teams player and veteran leader.
21. De’Andre Presley, 22. Don Jones, 23. Julian Posey, 24. Keelan Johnson, 25. Jordan Kovacs – A couple of these players are likely headed for the practice squad but they are a long way from contributing to an NFL roster.
Well that’s how I think it should shake out. What about you?