Surprise! Miami Dolphins release Bernadrick McKinney and Matt Skura

The Miami Dolphins are starting the move towards 53 and tonight, they have surprised a lot of people by releasing Bernardrick McKinney.

McKinney joined the Dolphins this past off-season as part of a trade with the Houston Texans. The Dolphins sent DE/LB Shaq Lawson to the Texans for McKinney. Fans were snickering on Sunday when the Texans traded Lawson to the Jets. Now, a day later, the Dolphins have ended their relation with McKinney.

Many were surprised earlier in camp when the Dolphins restructured McKinney’s contract and eliminated the last few years of the deal, making it a one-year deal instead. The Dolphins, by releasing him will save over $2 million in cap space with a negligible cap hit under $1 million.

McKinney was outplayed by Elandon Roberts who came off the injury list and immediately began to make an impact, still, the move is a big surprise for a player that was in the Pro Bowl only a few years ago.

In addition to the report that McKinney is being released, the Dolphins are also releasing Matt Skura. Skura was added in free agency but was not able to challenge Michael Dieter for the starting job and center. Miami made a trade last week for Greg Mancz after Skura was demoted to the third team.

There is a lot of things fans may not like about Chris Grier but he is not afraid to get rid of a player that doesn’t fit into what the team is trying to build. There were reports that McKinney was never really happy with the trade to Miami and was much happier having his contract reduced to a one-year deal. Perhaps that was one of the reasons that Miami felt the need to cut bait now.