Dolphins 53 predictions: defensive line

One week remains between the off-season hole and the start of football once again. the Miami Dolphins will open training camp on Friday as they begin their month long prep for the 2016 season.

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Over the past week or so we have made our offensive predictions for the final 53 of the roster. You can view the last one here and that has the links to the previous predictions.

Following our predictions on offense, 26 of the 53 roster spots have been filled. We know we will fill three spots specifically with special teams. Andrew Franks, John Denney, and punter Matt Darr. That is 29 total roster spots as we turn to the defensive side of the ball who will now fill up the remaining 24 positions.

The defensive line is hoping to improve over last seasons not so thrilling season. Especially at the start. New defensive coordinator Vance Joseph is hoping to turn his defense into one of the leagues best. It will start on the defensive front.

Cameron Wake, Ndamukong Suh, Mario Williams, are all locks for the roster with Jordan Phillips Earl Mitchell, likely making the roster.

The Dolphins enter training camp with only five defensive tackles on their roster. Jordan, Suh, and Mitchell will take up three spots. Deandre Coleman and Chris Jones will battle for the 4th spot but the Dolphins could opt to keep all five given the lack of depth on the two man interior front.

At defensive end the Dolphins will enter with 10. Wake and Williams are absolutes and it’s likely Jason Jones and Andre Branch make the roster. Beyond those four it gets interesting. The Dolphins still are hoping to see development from Chris McCain but he is going to get pushed hard this year. Terrence Fede may need to make a big impression in camp this year as well.

Former CFL defensive end Cleyon Laing is also hoping to follow the footsteps of Cameron Wake and not only make the roster but carve out a future. Early trims to the defensive ends should include Farrington Huguenin and Julius Warmsley.

While McCain stands a good shot of making the roster, in the end, I think with the depth at DE and the potential for Laing, I am predicting that McCain does not make the roster this year.

53 man roster:

Spots taken by DT: 4

Spots taken by DE: 6

Roster spots total thus far: 35

Players on the DL:

Ends: 

Cameron Wake, Mario Williams, Andre Branch, Jason Jones, Cleyone Laing, Terrence Fede,

DT’s:

Ndamukong Suh, Chris Jones, Earl Mitchell, and Jordan Phillips