The Crowded Position of WR

The Dolphins had some big needs this off-season, especially on the offensive line and at the linebacker position, but it is interesting that they decided to double down in the 2014 draft at the wide receiver position. Last off-season the Dolphins invested a lot of money in the wide receiver position by signing Mike Wallace and Brandon Gibson, and resigning Brian Hartline. Even though the WR unit improved, there was still a lack of touchdowns, and the team is still not completely satisfied with this particular position’s level of play.

The wide receiver position in camp is probably going be one of the best battles and most exciting competitions through out the entire team. The Dolphins currently have 12 receivers on their roster and they are realistically competing for 5 or 6 roster spots on the 53 man roster. Most sports gambling fans would say that Mike Wallace and Brian Hartline, are pretty much guaranteed to make the team. Wallace was given a ridiculous amount of money and this will probably be his last season to prove that he is worth the lofty contract. Ryan Tannehill and Wallace need to be practicing the deep ball all off-season until Tannehill’s arm falls off or Wallace’s legs fall off, because if they can find a way to connect on the deep ball then this duo will be able to add 7-10 more touchdowns this season. That many touchdowns could easily be the difference between the Phins making the playoffs or not. Most sports gambling fans would agree that Brian Hartline has been the Phins’ most reliable and consistent receiver over the last two years. As long as his knee is healthy, then he will be one of the Phins starting WR, but one thing he needs to improve on is getting into the end zone and scoring more touchdowns.

The third roster spot will most likely go to the Rookie from LSU, Jarvis Landry. There is no way the Phins are going to use a 2^nd round pick on a player that is not going to make the team. He might not be the fastest or biggest receiver on the team, but he probably is the toughest and has the best hands on the team. He will immediately be in a heated competition with Brandon Gibson for the slot receiver position. Gibson did a solid job playing out of the slot, and before he was injured, he was developing very good chemistry with Tannehill. There has not been much talk about how his knee injury has been recovering, but he should be ready for the season, and he will most likely make the team. However I would like to go out on a limb and say now that I believe that rookie Jarvis Landry is going to unseat Gibson as the starting slot receiver.

If the Phins end up keeping 6 receivers that would mean there would then be 2 more spots available. Rishard Matthews showed a lot of promise last season, however, for some reason he is not liked very much by the coaching staff. If he continues to show improvement this off-season then the coaches will have to suck it up and keep him on the roster. He is a young talent that should be given a last chance to prove his worth this season . The last spot is going to be a toss up, but as long as Armon Binns is recovered from his ACL injury, then he should be the favorite to win the roster spot. He is the Phins tallest receiver at 6’3” and he had a great camp last year, that really impressed the coaching staff. Binns’ biggest competition is going to come from free agent Damian Williams, who played for Tennessee last season, and 6^th round rookie Matt Hazel. Williams is more valuable as a punt or kick returner, so that would probably be the only way he would make the team. Hazel is a small-school raw receiver who will most likely be kept on the practice squad. The last 4 players in the competition will pretty much need a miraculously amazing camp if they want to make the roster or the practice squad; Ryan Spadola, Kevin Cone, Rantavious Wooten, and Ryan Lankford. Regardless of who makes the team and who starts, one thing that looks evident is that with the added competition, the results should improve for this unit. Competition breeds performance.