The Miami Dolphins have had a busy weekend. The team traded for tight end Adam Shaheen from the Chicago Bears while simultaneously passing down a few roster cuts — difficult decisions ahead of training camp, especially when you take into consideration the players who were cut. The Miami Dolphins announced yesterday that they had released WR Ricardo Louis and waived QB Jake Rudock.
We have released WR Ricardo Louis and waived QB Jake Rudock.
— Miami Dolphins (@MiamiDolphins) July 25, 2020
One would have to assume that the Dolphins would have preferred to keep both players for training camp, especially Louis — who the team targeted last season only to see him go down with an injury that cost him his second consecutive NFL season in 2019. Miami re-upped Louis’ contract this offseason, but the trying times of the COVID-19 pandemic seem to have forced the Dolphins’ hand. If the alternative to keeping Louis is dropping one of Miami’s physically gifted UDFA wide receivers (Kirk Merritt and Matt Cole), we seem to now know what priority the Dolphins are taking.
Any fringe wide receiver faces a tough task to make the roster — not because the Dolphins are loaded at the position but rather because they have a slew of depth at receiver and opportunities to push for playing time will not be easy to come by.
At quarterback, Rudock’s release isn’t too surprising given the Dolphins’ quarterback room status. The Dolphins have long-time veteran QB Ryan Fitzpatrick and they also boast two recent top-10 overall picks in Tua Tagovailoa and Josh Rosen. Regardless of Rosen’s struggles on the field last season during Miami’s rebuild, he’s still a physically gifted passer who will likely welcome a more simple offense in 2020 — like the one being brought to town by new offensive coordinator Chan Gailey. Rudock was inevitably the low man on the totem pole and with padded practices looming on the horizon in a few weeks, Miami needs to be honest about how many quarterbacks they’ll realistically need to get through camp.
Holding on to QB4 instead of giving someone else a spot on the roster feels redundant — and apparently the Dolphins agree.