The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

The thing that stands out about this years' roster is how little doubt there is about the starters. Sure, there are a few spots with genuine competition, but it speaks volumes about the level of the backups when more starters from a 1-15 team aren't in real danger of losing their jobs.

Anyway, here goes with the first stab at a 53-man roster... I've lumped o-line and d-line (and special teams) together for simplicity:

FB (1): Boomer Grigsby. Sparano has hinted he'll only keep one fullback. I hope he finds a way to keep Reagan Mauia as well, simply because his skill set nicely complements  that of the converted linebacker.

RB (4): Ricky Williams, Ronnie Brown, Patrick Cobbs, Jason Parmele. With only 1 fullback and R&R coming off season-ending injuries, it's likely that the Phins would opt to keep 4 running backs. That means everyone with skills makes the team. If someone had to go, it would probably be Parmele due to Cobbs' contributions on special teams.

QB (3): Chad Pennington, John Beck, Chad Henne. Yeah, Sparano has said he might keep 4. I doubt it. At this point I think it's almost a toss-up between McCown and Beck, but I still don't see how you can cut player picked near the top of round 2 a year ago... With regards to the depth-chart, I see no way Henne gets the #2 spot. Not because he's not better (I don't know if he is), but simply for practical reasons surrounding the rules of the #3 QB. Basically, you can't have a guy #2 and NOT put him in if your #1 gets hurt... and I don't think it would be in ANYONE'S best interest to throw Henne to the wolves this early.

WR (6): Ted Ginn Jr, Derek Hagan, Greg Camarillo, Ernest Wilford, Davone Bess, David Kircus. It's quite possible that only 5 receivers make the final roster, especially if Mauia gets in as a second fullback. In that case, Kircus probably doesn't make the cut... unless Sparano choses to gutsy solution at cuts Wilford. I doubt that, though. Jayson Foster winds up on the practice squad.

TE (3): Anthony Fasano, David Martin, Sean Ryan. Justin Peele is the odd man out, barring a fourth tight end spot... which is not completely unrealistic if Sparano goes with the single fullback option.

OLINE (9): Jake Long, Samson Satele , Vernon Carey, Justin Smiley, Donald Thomas, Trey Darilik, Shawn Murphy, Ikechuku Ndukwe, Steve McKinney. McKinney will probably start on the PUP, but that still counts as a roster spot. The other option would be to put him on IR (and lose him for the season) and bring in Matt Spanos.

DLINE (9): Jason Ferguson, Philip Merling, Matt Roth, Vonnie Holiday, Kendall Langford, Randy Starks, Rodrique Wright, Paul Soliai, Lionel Dotson. The D-Line positions are the hardest to predict, IMHO. Not only do we get less information and less film footage, but there has also been a lot of work put into changing players around, both within the line and with the linebackers - most notably Matt Roth, who started at strong linebacker against the Bucs.

LB (7): Joey Porter, Channing Crowder, Charlie Anderson, Akin Ayodele, Quentin Moses, Reggie Torbor, Edmond Miles. Kelvin Smith looks like he's heading for IR or release (with injury settlement). Miles is big a special teams contributor, giving him an edge over Rob Ninkovich for the final roster spot.

CB (5): Will Allen, Andre Goodman, Travis Daniels, Nathan Jones, Michael Lehan. Joey Thomas just misses out.

S (3): Jason Allen. Yeramiah Bell, Renaldo Hill. Keith Davis and Chris Crocker have performed well and are also serious contenders, but if the customary 3 spots is all the position gets, it's hard to see how Hill, last years' best player, doesn't get the final one. I think this is the one position where there is actually some interesting depth (although no stars). Keith Davis is a solid special teamer, so he would probably have the edge over Crocker.

ST (3): Jay Feely, Brandon Fields, John Denney. Feeley is getting a lot of heat from Dan Carpenter. I still think Feely winds up with the job, but Carpenter has definitely done everything he could to make Sparano's job difficult. Fields (punter) and Denney (long snapper) have effectively no competition.