Tonight at 9m is the deadline for all NFL teams to cut their rosters down to the mandatory 53 players, and the Miami Dolphins have not wasted any time. As of now the Dolphins have cut Jeff Fuller, Gary Guyton, Chandler Burden, Vince Agnew, B.J.Cunningham, Clyde Gates, Jamaal Westerman and Kevyn Scott. They have also released Cameron Collins, Ryan Baker, Roberto Wallace, and Quinten Lawrence. Phins news fans should not really be surprised by any of these names, and as the day progresses this list will only grow. Obviously the Dolphins have not looked good during their 4 preseason games, and many football gambling fans believe that the major cause of this is their lack of talent. So there is no need to shed a tear for any of these players, because at the end of the day they had their chance, and they were not getting the job done.
The bigger question now is that, with the rest of the 31 teams forced to trim their rosters, the result will be a flood of semi-talented players that could be available, that are better than what the Dolphins currently have on their roster. For example the Baltimore Ravens and Green Bay Packers are two of the deepest teams with concerns to the wide receiver position, so there will be acorns shaken off those trees that will be an upgrade to what is currently on the Dolphins roster. At the moment the Dolphins are 8th on the waiver wire list, which basically means they have first dibs on players with less than 4 years of experience as long as they are not claimed by the 7 teams ahead of them on the list. Tommy Streeter is a rookie WR from Miami University who was drafted in the 6th round by the Ravens, and who many including myself wanted the Dolphins to draft, that will most likely be cut and available to scoop up. Also the Packers are so deep at the wide receiver position that only one of the three following players will make the team; Jarrett Boykin, Tori Gurley, and Diondre Borel. Football gambling fans have to assume that with Philbin’s deep connection to Green Bay, that the 2 players who are eventually cut by the Packers, will at least get a long hard look by the Dolphins.
In addition the Dolphins have traded Ryan Cook to the Cowboys for a 7th round pick next year, and are in discussions to trade Steve Slaton to the Redskins for former Dolphin cast away Anthony Armstrong. There has also been rumors swirling about a possible trade of Matt Moore. And a possible trade with the Lions since they are desperately looking for a running back, which is a position where the Dolphins are very deep at.
Lastly the Dolphins have already brought in a few players at both the WR and CB positions to take a look out, which at least is a good sign because they realize where they are deficient and appear to want to address it. They have already looked at Donte Stallworth, Brian Tyms, Mike Sims-Walker, and Jabar Gaffney to boost the WR position. In the CB department they have looked at Rod Hood, Donald Strickland, and Drew Coleman.
The word of the day should be patience, because until the roster cut deadline passes, there will still be plenty of viable names to look at before management needs to jump on the first available players. What players would the fans of Phins news like the Dolphins to pick up, trade for, or at least check under the hood of?