We’re a little more than a week away from NFL teams having to trim their rosters from 90 players to 53. And, the Miami Dolphins seem to be one of the few teams who won’t have a ton of surprises. Sure, there are always some eyebrow raisers, but the Dolphins probably won’t have many and they seem like the type of team that will be active immediately following final cuts.
Alain Poupart of Sports Illustrated put together his 53-man roster projections 4.0 on Monday and not much has changed from his previous list.
Let’s start with the quarterbacks, where the team will keep three of them and they currently have Tua Tagovailoa, Zach Wilson and rookie Quinn Ewers on the roster. Guess how many will make it? Yep.
“The notion that Ewers at any point was in danger of not making the 53-man roster, which surfaced in certain circles after his disappointing outing against the Chicago Bears, always seemed borderline fantasy from this vantage point and hopefully it’s been quieted for good after he rebounded nicely against Detroit,” Poupart writes.
As many suspected, barring a trade, all three of them will likely be on this team’s roster. It likely means that Ewers would be an emergency quarterback on game days, but with Tua’s tenuous health and Wilson’s ability to stink up the joint, they might have Ewers ready and waiting at all times.
Will the Miami Dolphins keep four running backs
How the Dolphins end up handling their running backs will depend mostly on the health of De’Von Achane. Achane suffered a soft tissue injury this weekend and won’t practice this week, but the injury doesn’t seem to be a long-term issue. However, it’s soft tissue and those can be tricky.
Regardless, he’s making the team, so that wouldn’t affect Poupart’s assessment of the offensive backfield. But, even after Alexander Mattison went down, he still doesn’t see room for Aaron Shampklin (doesn’t even have a Heavy player page, which is tough to do) or Mike Boone.
“Shampklin and Boone have been playing catch-up since being signed in the aftermath of Alexander Mattison’s season-ending injury, but Shampklin opened some eyes with his 26-yard run against the Lions,” Poupart writes. “It still remains unlikely the Dolphins will keep a fourth halfback, though. It’s easy to see Shampklin winding up on the practice squad — assuming he clears waivers, of course.”
He’ll clear waivers.
Will the Miami Dolphins keep five or six wide receivers?
The Dolphins are stacked at the top of the wide receiver depth chart. Obviously, Tyreek Hill (unless he pops off at the mouth some more and gets traded) and Jaylen Waddle are making the team.
Poupart thinks that Malik Washington, Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, Dee Eskridge and Tahj Washington also make the initial 53-man roster.
“We continue to struggle with the question of whether the Dolphins will keep five or six wide receivers on the initial 53-man roster, and it’s Tahj Washington who would be the one off if it winds up being five,” Poupart writes. “Count on two or three of the young receivers who get cut to wind up on the practice squad.”
This Dolphins’ roster seems ripe for a lot of bottom-of-the-roster shufflin’ after final cuts are announced around the NFL. They will most likely be hot in the trash-and-treasure sweepstakes in the following few days after cut downs.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Miami Dolphins Should be Active Following Final Cuts appeared first on Heavy Sports.