The first rounds of Miami Dolphins roster cuts were made known to the world yesterday, with Miami facing the prospect of working their roster down from 81 players to the required cutoff of 53 by today at 4PM EST. That big picture goal is still a work in progress, but it isn’t as daunting of a challenge as it was at this time yesterday. The first set of cuts offered plenty of expected change and even a little bit of surprise. You can be sure to expect more of both today.
Here are Miami’s Monday cuts summarized:
- CB Tino Ellis
- S Nate Holley
- RB Jordan Scarlett
- WR Khalil McClain
- C Matt Skura
- LB Benardrick McKinney
Expectations for Skura were tempered quickly in training camp as the Dolphins simply refused to give him a look with the first team offense. Credit to Michael Deiter for keeping that competition in hand for all of training camp. But the Dolphins’ decision to part ways with McKinney certainly rocked the boat; kick-starting plenty of anxious chatter about the direction of the team.
Here’s the thing. Brian Flores and Chris Grier know what the big picture is going to look like for Week 1 versus New England at this point. And they’ve done quite well through their first three offseasons of keeping everyone guessing to a lot of their intentions. So while there may be more roster cuts today that may be classified as surprises in the grand scheme of training camp expectations; we’re better off expecting the unexpected as it pertains to the Dolphins with this brain trust in place at the top.
There will be more cuts like “Nate Holley” today. But is there another “Benardrick McKinney” cut coming? Initial roster cuts are due by 4PM EST; so we should know then or shortly after if there’s another cut waiting to rock the boat in Miami.