The Dolphins have officially completed their roster cuts and are now at the required 53 man roster limit. Below is the list of the Saturday cuts:
WR Damarr Aultman
QB McLeod Bethel-Thompson
C Sam Brenner
DT Deandre Coleman
LB James Davidson
DE Emmanuel Dieke
RB Mike Gillislee
WR Cobi Hamilton
T Donald Hawkins
LB Mike Hull
DT Anthony Johnson
S Don Jones
G Michael Liedtke
LB Jeff Luc
TE Tim Semisch
TE Jake Stoneburner
K Caleb Sturgis
S Cedric Thompson
LB Jordan Tripp
T Aundrey Walker
WR Christion Jones
QB Josh Freeman
Clearly the biggest name on this list is Caleb Sturgis. Most people will agree that replacing an experienced kicker with an undrafted rookie this is a very risky gambling strategy, and that it could back fire. However, Sturgis was statistically one of the worst kickers in the league the last two seasons with erratic inconsistency. In addition, new Rookie kicker Andrew Franks seems to have a bigger leg, and he can at least consistently boom it out of the endzone on kickoffs much better than Sturgis. I have no problem with this move, because I have not been a fan of Sturgis. I do fear there is a chance that Franks may end up losing us a close game during the season due to a missed field goal, but I hope like heck that I am wrong.
Other interesting decisions by the coaches and organization was that they only went with two TE’s, Cameron and Sims. They cut recent draftee Ced Thompson, and last years’ fifth round pick Jordan Tripp. Tripp and Thompson would definitely be two players that I hope the phins can at least store on the practice squad.
A couple of other interesting moves were that the Phins decided to waive Mike Hull, but they kept 2 other undrafted LB’s in Zach Vigil and Neville Hewitt. While Vigil has been the best of the undrafted LB’s, I was surprised that Hewitt was kept over Hull. In addition, the Dolphins also decided to keep offensive lineman Jacques McClendon, but waived Sam Brenner. This was another move that I would have expected the opposite to occur. Lastly, I am pleased that wide receiver Matt Hazel made the team. He put in a lot of work this off-season, which was evidently visible from his improved development. What player cuts were the Miami Dolphin News fans most surprised by?
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