Who are the Miami Dolphins bottom five players as cuts loom
By Brian Miller
The Miami Dolphins will cut 37 players following next weekends final pre-season game. It may not be as tough to predict as you might think.
Looking at the Miami Dolphins 90 man roster today it’s actually quite easy to tick off almost 30 players who little or no chance of making the roster. It’s a lot harder to predict the bottom five that will. Why? Because those bottom five could easily be replaced a day or even a week later.
The bottom of every NFL roster consists of bubble players who squeaked onto the roster. Those players are the ones that are then compared to the other NFL released players. In other words, if Adam Gase and company believe that Joe X from the Seahawks is a better fit than Bottom 5 Henry on the roster now, Bottom 5 is gone.
For the first week the bottom of the roster is fluid. There are cuts, practice squad signings, and then a repeat after week one when vested veterans are signed without guaranteed contracts. Needless to say, the bottom five maybe even ten are never really safe.
So who are the bottom five? First lets look at the 32 names that will make up the rest of the cuts. Later this week, PhinPhanatic staff writer George Keim will make a final prediction on the teams final 53 man roster.
A quick scan of the Dolphins roster and we eliminate the following players next week. They are listed by position.
Center – Mike Mathews, Connor Hilland
Cornerback – Jalen Davis, Johnathan Alston, Tavese Calhoun,
DE – Quincy Redmon, Claude Mathieu, Jonathan Woodard,
DL – Anthony Moten, Jamiyus Pittman,
Kicker – one of either Jason Sanders/Greg Joseph
LB – Frank Ginda, Cayson Collins,
LS – Lucas Gravelle
OT – David Steinmetz, Roubbens Joseph, Eric Smith,
QB – Two of Brock Osweiler/David Fales/Bryce Petty
RB – Jeremy Langford, Buddy Howell, Brandon Radcliff,
S – Maurice Smith, Trae Elston,
TE – Gavin Escobar, Thomas Duarte
WR – Malcolm Lewis, Drew Morgan, Francis Owusu, Rashawn Scott,
That is 30 players off the top of the list. Players Duarte and Eric Smith may have an outside shot but more realistically given the depth at their positions, it’s hard to imagine they make the initial 53 man roster.
That leaves seven players but since five was promised lets assume that Mike Hull starts off on the IR with his MCL injury. Lets also assume that Sam Young or Ted Larsen will be released and then re-signed after the first week so their contract is not guaranteed. Miami did this last year.
That leaves five players that will make up the “tough” bottom of the roster. Who are they? If we go down the roster it could be any of these men.
Cornell Armstrong – A rookie and a practice squad possibility.
Jordan Lucas – Miami still has not seen enough but have they seen enough to keep a roster spot?
Kendall Langford – Relegated to the 3rd and 4th units is not a good thing.
Terrence Garvin – Garvin did not look good in pre-season three and that was with the back-ups
Isaiah Ford – It is going to get really interesting with the wide-receiver groups
Leonte Carroo – He still has not shown enough to warrant a roster spot this year.
Those are six players but it’s up in the air with the wide-receiver group. If the Dolphins don’t IR Mike Hull it would be hard to imagine that they would keep six receivers.
Other players that could make up the bottom of the roster are guys like Tony Lippett who hasn’t picked up the speed after his injury last year. Zach Sterup who has a lot of potential but could get lost in the initial cuts.