The Miami Dolphins introduced some intriguing competition for the tight end group this weekend with their low-risk bet on former top-50 NFL Draft selection Adam Shaheen. Shaheen, who has spent the early portion of his pro career in Chicago with the Bears, is hoping that a fresh start with a new team can help him become more of the player the Bears assumed he would become when they chose him in the 2nd-round of the 2017 NFL Draft.
Shaheen’s arrival served as a bad omen for the existing tight ends on the roster behind Mike Gesicki — and now we know which tight end will pay the price of Miami adding Shaheen to the mix.
The Dolphins announced yesterday afternoon that veteran tight end Michael Roberts has been waived from the roster, trimming down the group and clearing the way for Shaheen’s roster spot ahead of the start of training camp.
For as disappointing as Shaheen has been with the Bears, Roberts’ career has been just as bad — he’s only caught 13 passes since entering the league in 2017 and has not played a game since the 2018 season due to lingering injury issues. Like Shaheen, Roberts is a looming presence at 6-foot-5 and 265 pounds, offering the needed size to be a red zone threat as a receiver and the density to serve as an effective blocker in tight spaces. That role will not belong to Shaheen, who will look to unseat Durham Smythe as the team’s TE2 throughout the course of the preseason preparations for 2020.
As for Roberts, his career with the Dolphins will end without ever taking a snap for the team. Given the current outlook of early roster cuts amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Roberts may have to wait until 2021 to once again find himself a roster to land on and get his next chance to live up to his athletic potential.