Phins Cutting Players Like Jason Voorhees

Phins making cuts early… and in bunches

Usually, teams don’t make cuts in bulk until after the last preseason game. The Phins, though, continue to take a ‘road less traveled approach’ on how this team is built.

The Turk has run wild like Jason from Friday the 13th over the last couple of days.

Today there was a massacre.

None of today’s cuts were big surprises, but still, some names were notable. Miami waived/injured LB Chase Allen and released DT Akeem Spence. They also released OT Jordan Mills and TE Clive Walford with injury settlements. This is on top of the release of T.J. McDonald and OT Will Holden over the last two days.

The Good News

The Dolphins are now ranked 8th in most Cap space available with 22.1 million free on the books. This is a far cry from the previous Dolphins regimes that mortgaged the future every season by guaranteeing more money in subsequent years to older players so they could barely afford a team today.

Even the 4-year extension of Jakeem Grant allows an out after this year. Another shrewd move by Grier was ensuring plenty of the deal is performance-based.

Miami is tightening the purse strings and they don’t appear to be letting go.

While the Dolphins dysfunction is slowly transitioning into discipline, does slowly equal surely?

The release of Mills is an excellent sign that it is…

… Dwayne Allen following him would be the cherry on top.

Like most fans, for some time Phinsnews had their fingers crossed that Flores would send Jordan Mills packing. While this might seem the obvious move, over the last couple of decades, Dolphins Head Coaches have been oblivious to the obvious. So, while this is a small win, it removes a big concern.

Adam Gase banged the square peg of Jermon Bushrod and Julius Thomas into the round hole of failure for two years. In contrast to Gase’s obstinate nature, Flores only took a month to figure out it was time to cut his losses.

I was just about to (reluctantly) write an article about the parallels of Dwayne Allen and Jordan Mills with Julius Thomas and Jermon Bushrod. Thankfully, I can put it on hold. Hopefully, I can scrap it altogether if/when Allen is cut.

I do believe that cut is coming.

Rookie TE Chris Myarick has flashed over the last couple of games if you haven’t noticed. He has had some bumps for sure. Still, production is said to be THE key. So if Myarick produces this week and Allen sits due to injury–again, Allen should follow Mills.

Akeem Spence was a good player but wasn’t the best fit

Phinsnews spoke back in June about how Flores’ scheme demanded that the defensive linemen succeed in 2-Gap Technique. Yes, they do use a mix of 1-Gap and 2-Gap, but 2-Gap is the backbone to the run defense. Unfortunately, Spence is at his best in 1-Gap… and it showed a few times too many when he was pushed aside and a big run came through his gap.

Spence is a good vet and a good guy. The fit was just off a little too much.

Vincent Taylor has been scarce this preseason. It seems Flores wanted Spence to coach up the young guys and slow roll the return of the injured Vincent.

I’ll stand by my prediction from a few months ago, this run defense will take a sizable step forward from 2018. I predicted they’d fall somewhere in the mid-teens range at defensive run defense ranking… and I’m sticking with it.

The Chase Allen cut hurts… a tad

The kid flashed in 2018. I expected him to do good things in 2019 under Flores. But, NFL is ruthless and his foot injury lingered way too long. Hopefully, we’ll see him back in aqua down the road. Likely though his future will be elsewhere. A shame when young players fail to bloom because of injury.

McMillan, Baker, De Luca, Van Ginkel, Eguavoen, and Kiko appear to be the 2019 Phins Linebackers. But, with Van Ginkel, McMillan, and Kiko injured for most of the Preseason, this lineup could shape up different. This will a popcorn storyline with possible trades and/or cuts. Guess I need to pour through the tape with a close eye on the Phins LBs.

The Miami Dolphins have been a day late and a dollar short for too long…

While nothing is definitive yet, the winds of change keep blowing in the right direction. No?! Go Phins!!!

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