By now you might of heard the news of Jason Ferguson going to IR. Omar Kelly Sun-Sentinel reporter reports that the Fins will be placing Jason Ferguson on IR according to source. A huge crushing blow nontheless, but it will be the first of a series of roster move Miami makes during their 10 day break. The second move the Fins make is filling Big Ferg's spot. It is gonna be interesting to see who they choose to bring in. Will Miami sign someone or elevate a player from their PS, like they have done with Nate Ness & Kory Sperry. Sperry has started two games with Miami and has become a possible success story. The Fins have an open Practice Squad spot after signing Nate Ness to the active roster a spot I think they will fill and must. Also if Miami chooses to elevate a player from their PS to fill Ferg's spot they now have two open spots on their PS, both must be filled. In total, we are are talking about four roster Miami will make during their break. After thinking about the possible moves Miami might make and knowing they could bring players from their PS up to the active roster, I wanted to see what our PS roster looked like. So I did some research and found the answer to my question. Hopefully this helps alot of you, who like me are interested in knowing. Here is your current 2009 Practice Squad Roster: 90 Ryan Baker DE 27 Will Billingsley CB 20 Tristan Davis RB 59 J. D. Folsom ILB 60 Andrew Hartline G/T 86 John Nalbone TE 11 Julius Pruitt WR Open Spot Those are all seven players who are currently on the PS. There is an open spot to be filled and there could be two if Miami decides to elevate someone from their PS, if rumors are true of Jason Ferguson going to IR . Miami will be making atleast three roster moves in the coming days and when all is done four moves could have been made during the week by Miami. The Fins are known for their ability to find success in UDFA, FA and players who have come from other teams Practice squads. Carpenter, Bess, Sperry, Polite, Haynos & Garner all at one point have either been an UDFA, a FA or Practice Squad player playing from an opposing team. It will be an interesting week
They will probably nab a nose tackle from somewhere so that they don't have to play Starks and McDaniel out of position. Perhaps they'll get Toribio back from the Packers.
We can't play him at NT on every single defensive play though, especially if he's not 100%. I expect us to mostly rotate McDaniel in there and pick up a practice squad player or a FA to get some depth. He talked about wanting to play NT in the offseason, now he's got his chance.
I'm not saying he will or won't. I'm saying that we will have to use other players at NT even if Soliai is back.
McDaniel, Starks and I think even Merling will all split time. Dotson will also be activated now on game days.
i doubt any of our current flock will be activated from the PS .... no one fits a need (Baker is a DE) thus, would expect to sign 1 or 2 from 'other' PSs to bring on to the active roster ....
Andrew Hartline is from one of the Michigan's I believe? If so, I liked him coming out and thought he could be a nice project. I doubt he gets promoted to the fifty-three but I'm happy they have him. As for the nose spot, I think they are going to use a bit of Tony McDaniel there because in the pre-season, he played some 1 technique IIRC and did pretty good job of collapsing the pocket. He's very strong. It also wouldn't surprise me to see them go to some more 4-3 fronts because it allows Jason as well as Joey to get to the three point stance whilst also allowing more freedom for Cameron Wake to come on to the field. We move Starks with Langford into the middle as one of the pairs - others could include Merling/Starks in a pass rushing front or Merling/Langford as well as McDaniel/Langford, which are two tall and long players that can disrupt the passing lanes by getting their arms up.
They could go looking at all the other 31 practice squads as well.... IMO we need a NT to spell Soliai. I have to think the spelling is going to come from McDaniel and Starks (how important is this guy to our defense?)
Randy Starks has been huge for this defense this year. He always seems to make a big play when one is needed. He and Langford have been pretty good this year and I hope they're able to keep it up.
Its gone under the radar but they use a fair amount of 4-3 as a run defense. They typically put Langford/Soliai/Ferguson/Starks, with both Porter/Taylor at OLB lined up on the line and Crowder the sole guy behind it. They used this more than the normal 3-4 vs the Jets in the second game, and quite a bit vs. Carolina. The issue is you don't get much of a pass rush without blitzing. If you wanted to run a more standard 4-3 who would you be putting on the field that would be solving any real issues?
