Roster Spotlight: Wide Receiver

The Miami Dolphins have 10 WR’s on their roster as of tonight. It’s the combined talent and potential talent that to me makes this one of the most intriguing battles in training camp. Tonight, I wanted to look a little deeper at this position as the training camp heads to the conclusion of week 1. Here is a Roster Spotlight: The Wide Receivers.

Brandon Marshall shined on day 1 and that got the juices flowing. Every fan knows that he will be the number 1 wide receiver barring injury. On the other side of the field will be a two man battle between Brian Hartline and Greg Camarillo. Judging by what head coach Tony Sparano has been saying, Brian Hartline has all but officially locked up that roll.

With Hartline a likely number 2, that pushes Camarillo into the slot that is currently occupied by Davone Bess. Bess is a sure handed WR who loves to go over the middle so it’s unlikely that he will be un-seated by the also sure handed Greg Camarillo.

Miami is not a bad situation at WR right now, but after those top 4 guys, the 5th and likely final spot suddenly becomes something of guess work.

Patrick Turner is in his 2nd season with Miami and thus far he has been completely upstaged by Brian Hartline and his position on the team hangs in limbo. Tony Sparano has spoken out about his performance thus far and early reports are that Turner appears to finally be getting it. Will it be enough or too little too late?

That is a question that is yet to unfold but if Turner is finally starting to show signs that he can contribute, do the Dolphins keep him alive for another year. Turner was after all a 3rd round pick for the Phins.

Beyond Turner the first name that pops up is Ryan Grice-Mullen. A combination of speed and size, Mullen was penciled in early by the arm chair QB’s as the Dolphins replacement for Ted Ginn on special teams. Nagging injuries however has quelled that talk. Grice-Mullen needs to be on the field as much as possible to convince the Dolphins that they should keep him on the roster in that one lone capacity.

If the Phins did decide to do something like that, you can bet that Patrick Turner would be back on the inactive list on Sundays.

Roberto Wallace and Marlon Moore will not be around after week 1 of pre-season and if they are it still will not lock them down a roster spot. But Julius Pruitt and Taurus Johnson are a different story.

Both Pruitt and Johnson have high potential but neither have sufficiently stood out of the WR’s thus far. In other words their is no Ikaika Alama-Francis on the Dolphins WR unit. With all that being said, each of these two may be fighting it out into the final week of pre-season. Especially if Patrick Turner falters leaving a potential 5th WR spot up for grabs.

As of today the lock at WR is Marshall, Bess, and Hartline. A major step up for Turner could allow the Dolphins to try and move Camarillo…although it’s highly unlikely. Beyond Cammy, the Phins really don’t offer much in the way of trade considering they would not have Bess and Hartline on the block.

10 persons have their names on the Dolphins roster and of those 10 a maximum of 5 will stick. With three and likely four of those 5 already locked down, that final spot makes for a lot of debate.