I'm not sure about Martin at all. Randall has been playing pretty well, and Martin would be the 5th DT. I can't see him playing outside much in a 4-3 even though they tried him there in practice.
I see an interesting lack of Kelcie McCray on people's depth charts. I'm not sure I've noticed him do anything spectacular, but the Dolphins have been rotating him in pretty heavily. If I'm not mistaken he's been the third safety off the bench in both games and had the third most defensive snaps in the Jags game. Maybe the team is pushing him to make a play in heavy minutes or that's the end for him. I think he'll make it unless Kovacs or Jones really outplay him.
He also shows great hands and route running ability. The int may not have been his fault. He settled into a soft spot in a zone and Moore threw the pass like he thought Chad was going to continue running to the left. I have not heard an explanation of the play from either Moore or Chad, so to say who was most at fault is speculation anyway I guess. The muffed punt wasn't good, though he did recover it, and also had a nice 20 yd return later.
I don't know why Rishard Matthews doesn't get play at punt returner..strong body, strong hands, elusive...not a starter..very good college experience and production.
I am still of the opinion that if it hits you in the hands, you should probably catch it and it was a very catchable ball. I don't hate the guy, I am rooting for him, but he certainly has some warts that have shown through, as have the other guys. Because we have Marcus Thigpen? That is the only real reason I can think of, although, unless I am remembering wrong, Matthews didn't seem to be too shifty and wasn't much of a short burst kind of guy like Bess was or Thigpen is.
Personally i'm good with thigpen handling both jobs, i think if he cant handle the punt return duties then theres no reason to roster a player that will just return kickoffs,but Seems like their auditioning everyone and their mother there so not only am I confused, I'm wondering why not Matthews, he was good in college.
I'm not a big fan of Vaughn Martin or anything. I never was. They signed him, I took a look at his Chargers tape, aside from a whole lot of core strength I didn't see anything remarkable about him. I'm just trying to go off the language coming out of the Dolphins as well as their actions. I think he's on the roster.
Right and with Starks not having practiced in a long time, might start to wonder if his injury lasts into the regular season... which would certainly impact a guy like Martin.
Just for you, they bumped him up to starter in today's practice, replacing Misi... no I'm not kidding.
ah... also heard Yeatman was bumped up to 2nd string LT today ahead of Adams. I'd really like to see him get extended left tackle action this week.
Tanny Moore Devlin Miller Thomas Gillislee Clay Keller Sims Egnew Wallace Hartline Gibson Matthews Martin Clabo Incognito Louis Pouncey Samuda Wake Vernon Jordan Shelby Solai Odrick Starks Randell Ellerbe Wheeler Misi Grimes Marshall Patterson Davis Taylor Jones Clemons Fields Denny Sturgis I think everything else is up for grabs. Is like to think Gray Jerry Yeatman thiggy Robinson Bumphis trusnick Wilson make the team Kovacs and Jones to PS
That's been a constant rotation though. Yeatman to Adams to Thomas back to Adams now back to Yeatman. However, Yeatman does seem to have come on as of this week.
I like this. Far as I'm concerned Yeatman has the best combination of good feet and functional strength of anyone they've used so far at LT.
I would think it more impacts Randall. He should have an increased workload til Randy can go 100% again. Heck, I've seen more out of Tracy Robertson than I have out of Vaughn Martin.
That guy must have compromising photos of someone. Never have I seen a guy do so little on a football field. He is just kind of out there.
I think other team's GM's will be trolling through our 54th to 60th players this year the way we used to do with other teams. It will make it hard to get a guy like Jenkins or Jones or McCray through to the practice squad. Yeatman is showing talent as a LT, a highly valued commodity across the league. Does he get kept at someone else's expense just to protect ourselves?
I wonder if we might be looking at the offensive line as a unit of the best 8 or 9 right now might be wrong. It's possible that for cost or developmental reasons I think it's possible they might prefer to keep someone like Will Yeatman, and there are either/or propositions like John Jerry vs. Lance Louis.
I think four Olinemen right now are locks, Martin, Incognito, Pouncey, and Clabo. The two other guys who will likely be active on Sundays as reserves will, imo, be Samuda and Garner. That leaves the starting RG to make the seven active linemen. The two most likely to be kept past that are Thomas and Yeatman, neither of whom would make it to a practice squad even if we tried. That seems to leave the loser of the Jerry/Louis battle out in the cold or perhaps as trade bait. Just thinking??
Pretty good summary from James Walker (for a change). I think I agree with him... http://espn.go.com/blog/afceast/post/_/id/62699/dolphins-53-man-roster-projection-1-0
I think some of the spots at the very bottom of the roster aren't really performing that well and so I wouldn't be surprised if there are waiver claims happening come cut time.
From James Walker's roster for example I think guys like Lance Louis, Austin Spitler and Jimmy Wilson could be subject to replacement via waiver wire. Maybe even Jonas Gray, Michael Egnew, Jelani Jenkins and Nolan Carroll as well.
I generally agree, but I think Robinson will replace one of the LBs (Jenkins or Spitler) and Yeatman might make it ahead of a guy like V. Martin or instead of another OL placed on the PUP or waived injured.
One thing to keep in mind about the age-old special teams question is the Dolphins may feel like they've just made things considerably easier on their kick coverage unit by rostering Caleb Sturgis instead of Dan Carpenter. That leaves three special teams units as a priority, but two of them are more offensive in nature. I think generally speaking you're a little more concerned about your coverage than your blocking units.
Gray's got to make the team. And I don't think they'll ditch Jenkins yet. Spitler, Egnew and Louis are on the bubble.
I think Egnew makes it b/c they'll keep at least three and Miller has been AWOL. I think Louis makes it b/c they had to know he would take time to recover when they signed him. Gray should make it since he's our best short yardage guy. I'm not as confident that Jenkins or Spitler make it, nor that they deserve to.
Did you know that prior to this weekend's games, Jonas Gray was the 3rd leading tailback in the NFL in terms of missed/broken tackles created? Only Phillip Tanner and C.J. Anderson have more. Of course, literally 7 of Tanner's 8 missed tackles came against the Dolphins. Yikes.
updated the first post to include 53 man projection after rewatching the Texans game. Lance Louis, even though I had him on my first 53 having not seen him play, looked really good against the Texans.. of course it was 2nd 3rd string guys. Would like to see him get the start next game actually in place of Samuda.
I didn't think Lance Louis looked good. I had him getting beat on his blocks several times especially in the run game. He didn't look like the player he was with the Bears as far as his mobility goes. I know that's obvious but it's also relevant because it makes him a different player. He's only on roster if your depth sucks, which arguably it does. I mean, even as questionable as he looked at times, you could argue that Samuda, Garner, Barker, Brenner, etc...have all been worse. One change I'd make to my own feelings about the roster (aside from the obvious Dustin Keller adjustments) would be to take Lee Robinson off the roster. I don't think the man has the wheels to be trusted. He's a big play waiting to happen. The offense could spring a player to the perimeter at any point that Robinson won't be able to chase. I have very little faith in the depth at Outside Linebacker, Inside Linebacker, Safety and Tackle. I would be very active on waivers at those positions in addition to Tight End which became a need because of injury.
The only thing I disagree with here is your opinion of Lance Louis. Compare him to Samuda and he looks VERY GOOD. I don't think he got beat once in pass protection. He was okay in drive blocking. He didn't miss any assignments that I saw. The only thing I didn't see was the 4th quarter on the NFLN replay, from about 12 minutes left to about 6 minutes left. They cut that part out to fit the game into 3 hours. So maybe he had some misses there? Certainly think he deserves a chance to start over Samuda here in our next preseason game.
If we keep 4 reserve OL, I could see Yeatman being one of them. We know Dallas Thomas will be one by virtue of his draft status. With Garner having just signed a multi-year deal, being our most versatile and accomplished reserve, but nicked up, we may not want to keep whichever between Jerry and Louis does not start. I could see Louis being an all or nothing player. Either he starts at RG, his only position, or gets cut. All the reserves need to be versatile.
I think he's somewhere in between both your opinions. Some plays he looks decent. But he's inconsistent in his decision making/angles. He did make a nice tackle on a catch by the Texans running back in the 4th quarter. Does anyone really think Austin Spitler could have made the same play?
You got Game Pass, Pauly? I think they included the entire game, unlike those NFLN *** holes. On the replay, for me anyway, the quality of Game Pass was better than live.
Does Jelani Jenkins deserve to be on the 53? can't believe a 4th round pick, the 104th overall, shouldn't make the roster but sure enough... he doesn't look there yet. He's shown me absolutely nothing. #40 for the Texans kept eating him alive on running plays.
