Episode 545: Roster Cuts, Injury Concerns

Episode 545: Roster Cuts, Injury Concerns

[Music] Boom. Here we are. We’re off. Hi everyone. Welcome back. Episode 545 of the All Dolphins podcast on this Monday, August 25th, 2026. And we’re getting down to the nitty-gritty now with the roster moves and week one on the horizon with some injury news. Before we like we get into all that with Chris Perkins from the South Sun. Reminder, friendly reminder to please like, subscribe, share, comment, all that good stuff. Perk, how are you my friend? I’m gonna try not to cry. I’ll I’ll try I’ll try to to not make you cry. I won’t get all sentimental and tell you I love you, man. Yeah, exactly. Well, I’m I’m full of Alka-Seltzer Plus and uh so I I think I’ve got this cold under control. We’ll see. Oh, it’s a cold. Okay. Sure. Sure. Right. Yeah, that’s what I that’s what I say publicly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We’ll go we’ll go with that. Okay. So, let’s dive into the big news on Monday. The Dolphins have begun the process per multiple reports everywhere. They have not made any moves official as we’re taping this at almost 5:00 pm on Monday. As I recall last year also, they did the same thing. The Dolphins tend to release all of their moves at the same time around 4 p.m. on Tuesday, which is a deadline to get to 53, but a lot of moves have already leaked out. And the moves that would stand out in terms of notable names would be cornerback Mike Hilton being released. Tight end Farrell Brown who was an unrestricted free agent signing from the Seattle Seahawks being released at two running backs who were added after Alexander Madison went on IR. Mike Boone and Aaron Champlain also released. and at the risk of saming rude a whole bunch of other players who we figured had no chance of making the 53man roster. Any of those moves in particular caught catch your eye, surprise you? Any of that? No, I think it’s just interesting that the 30somes, uh, Frell Brown and Mike Hilton get released as the Dolphins go from win now to win with youth and drafties. Um, I don’t think either of them is a surprise, but I think it’s noteworthy from that standpoint. And I will tell you, I had, and yes, I’m going to do this. I’m going to pat myself on the back. I said it I’ve been saying it for a while that Mike Hilton that didn’t look good for him. And it was based on what we’re seeing in the press practice reps. The fact he didn’t start, didn’t play at all against Detroit in the preseason game and it was the ever popular we know what he can do. But in the joint practices, he’s getting reps, but not first team reps. It’s like, okay. And then in the preseason finale, he played some, but not a lot, and didn’t start, which again is, if you read the tea leaves and you’ve been doing this long enough, you kind of put two and two together and you know, that didn’t look good. Um, Farah Brown surprised me a little bit because I again, if you look look at the indicators, uh, Darren Waller didn’t play against the Jaguars on Saturday night. Neither did Julian Hill. It was Farah Brown who got the start. Now, in and of itself, it doesn’t mean everything, but it kind of means in the pecking order, you figured he’d be higher than either Tanner Connor or Hayden Roachi or Chris Mrick, who also was one of the guys reported to be released on Monday. And yeah, he had a bad whiff on one of the sacks on Saturday night if you recall where he got beat to the outside, I believe, by Greg, I believe his name is, and then James Daniels tried to come over to to cut him off. What get didn’t get in didn’t get there in time and to wound up getting sacked. I thought overall I don’t think he looked bad at all personally. And it’s it’s funny though because I’ve seen some some folks have said that he didn’t look good. Others thought he looked okay. To me, I thought he looked okay. Um, I thought he was pretty safe to make the roster. Personally, I thought he looked okay. He had a he had a key block on the on the Malik Washington touchdown. He had the two-point conversion reception, which he might or might not have bobbled. Um, oh, he definitely bobbled it. The question is whether he secured it in time. Correct. Correct. Uh, which I didn’t think he did, but whatever. Um, yeah. I think, you know, age age age before youth in in this case that I I age might have been the tiebreaker as the Dolphins try to get younger. I I I think that that was the tiebreaker. Uh, Pharaoh doesn’t play a lot of special teams also. So, uh, a guy such as Tanner Connor does play a lot of special teams, so that could have been a a move uh something working against Frell Brown also. But, um, yeah, this this team is trying to get younger. I think that that’s one of the basic things that we’re going to look for as a trend as we move forward here. So, you think they’re going to keep Hill Waller and Just Tanner Connor? You think Hayden Ruchi also makes it Oh, by the way, doesn’t block very well in in in training camp and the preseason. Yeah, Roo has has seemed to make some strides forward, but I bet they scan the waiver wire. Um they need they need some hands aside from uh Darren Waller on that on that tight end unit and and Tanner Connor has got hands, but I think he’s primarily a special teams guy. Yeah. And this is why to me and then the way they like their tight ends to be used is they like them as blockers which is why I thought he that Farah Brown was pretty safe in that they would have two re two blocking tight ends with him and Hill and then either one Waller or two Waller and Connor or Waller and somebody else as receiving tight ends. I I tweeted this right away is I thought Aaron Champlain was a little bit of a surprise. I had him, full confession, I had him in my projected final projected 53 because I didn’t like the look of the injury of Jaylen Wright and we’ll get into that. Well, we can tell you right now that Mike McDaniel said Jaylen Wright pretty much is out for week one doesn’t seem doesn’t think it’s going to be a long-term injury. And because of that, to me, the idea of going into the regular season with two healthy running backs on the 53 makes zero sense. uh and right now and particularly when you consider Devon Chan’s dealing with a calf injury and that leaves and the other one is Ali Gordon and so I thought they would keep Aaron Champlain at the very least early on until Jaylen Wright was fine and then they’d have the luxury of letting him go if they wanted and having said that I would not be surprised. Here’s the thing because when the Dolphins when we say the moves to 53, those are not their final roster cuts because they’re going to make a lot of other moves. for example, I would expect them to IR some players both tomorrow on Tuesday. They’re allowed two to designate to return and then after that they can have up to eight if the guy is initially on the 53. So my guess is and maybe Jason Sanders who’s going to be out for four to five weeks and we’ll discuss that later could be one of those guys. He’ll make the initial 53 then be put on IR designated to return and then and then the Dolphins maybe resign Shamlin or Mike Boon to serve as a number three halfback uh as opposed to as opposed to getting somebody who got cut by another team or a veteran who’s looking for work. Yeah, I don’t know. You know, I have to look and see who the guys are that they’ve had. Guys along the Jeff Wilson lines that that they’ve had and and are good candidates to be released and that they could bring back, you know, temporarily even for a matter of weeks. Uh I I don’t know off the top of my head beyond Jeff Wilson. Uh I you know, I wouldn’t expect them to go back to um who is the guy that they had uh the the before uh before um Jeff Wilson. They started out the year uh in 2022. The uh gosh, he he was with Arizona, was he the tailback? Uh oh, Ted Edmonds. Yes. Yes. Yes. I wouldn’t imagine that they would go that route, but I have to see who else. Um I don’t think it’s a small list. They they don’t have a whole lot of running backs that they’ve released. They’ve, you know, they kept that Raheem and Achan and Jeff Wilson trio together. So, uh, yeah, the Chase Edmonds and and those kind of guys, I don’t, you know, but Jeff Wilson would would is somebody that comes immediately to mind, but it’s a very short list after him. I I think, you know, and if you go back to the Matt Breida types and guys that um yeah, that that uh that Mike McDaniel has worked with, I I haven’t done that yet, but though that could be a a possible root uh root or route. That could be an option for this team. How about that? option. Um, that’s right. But and for me, what I what I would say and which is why again I had Champ Champlain Bad Allen Bad Allen on my 53 is because again for the role he’s going to be asked to play, which is basically hold on to the number three spot at halfback until Jr Wright’s ready. Both of those guys, Champlain and and Mike Boon did well enough during their time here. Champlainer in the first preseason game, Boone in the last one. uh that they would be fine. So again, prediction, do not be surprised if Mike Boon or Aaron Champlain are on the active roster for the indie game in week one. So there I said it. Um, Mike Hilton, going back to him, Mike McDaniel did a Zoom media session on Monday, uh, prefaced it by saying very appropriately that guys, if I could talk in terms of specifics about certain guys, certain guys have been already informed they’re being let go, certain guys have not. Um, so that’s certainly understandable. And he was asked though whether Mike the reports of Mike Hilton being released indicate that Jason Marshall Jr. is going to be the nickel corner. And again, M there’s no way in hell Mike McDaniel would ever or I don’t know that that many coaches. No, actually I don’t know. I don’t know how many coaches some coaches actually would tell you, yeah, he’s won the job. Mike McDaniel is not one of those guys. Um Joe, I’ll go back. Joe Filman certainly wouldn’t because Joe Filman, we asked him about Cameron Wake in a training camp and he’s like, “No, he’s got to win the job.” And we’re all like, “Sure, yeah, sure. Cameron awake who records you know double digit sex every year. Yeah, he’s got a win. And you remember you remember when filing pissed off Ryan Tanahill when he didn’t say that Tanahill was going to start. I think that was before the London game maybe but anyway yeah didn’t mean to sidetrack you but that’s the worst case of Joe Filin being it’s like come on Joe state the obvious. Speaking of Ryan Tanny Hill complete sidebar here but this is actually very interesting. I saw his name pop up and I don’t know if it was related to the Raiders who now have a massive need for a backup quarterback because Aiden Okonnell broke a finger or something like that. I don’t know if it was that situation or somewhere else where his name was thrown out as a possibility and I was like whoa. Okay, interesting. Danny Hill of course who didn’t play last year at all. Um but going back to to Jason Marshall Jr. Mike Maniel did not want to anoint him, but again, all the T leaves are saying, yes, that’s your nickel corner at the start of the season. And for a rookie fifth round pick, I mean, whoa. Um, and we’re looking at the possibility and and I did the research on this. Um, just like I did research on waiver wires, that’s another topic I want to pick up on at some point if we have time because we don’t want to go too long here. Uh because we know you can only take a certain amount of me and Burke as well, but mostly me. Anyway, so I did the research on waiver wire pickups going back through 2010, the last 15 years. Wow. To make the point of folks, can we please stop getting overly excited about every single solitary player who gets released? Oh, Dolphin should bring him. He’s going to kick some ass. The team will be much better. I mean, check out the story at Miami Dolphins on the side.com. I I have all the numbers crunch and you will see there the Zach sealer is like a a speck of gold in a barrel of rice. Whoa. Yeah. Yeah. I like that. I like that. No, I heard myself. Yeah. I didn’t know you found gold in rice. Which which goes to your point. Exactly. Um Yeah. And and I think you know the the numbers are low on number of on percentage of draft picks that hit quote unquote whatever you would consider hit and the number of free agents that you hit on whatever you would consider a hit and and so yeah I I the waiverwire claims have got to be much lower than that and and so you know yeah it’s a just because you see that guy out there you got to really temper your excitement and be a little bit more logical about it. I know that that’s tough as a fan because you want to think the best, but yeah, you’ve really got to kind of lower your expectations for guys that are picked up uh especially off the street. Yeah, I know. I’ll give you an example. L Collins is getting released by Dallas and I reached out to somebody I know covers the Cowboys and my question was very simple. Does he have anything left or is he completely done? And the question, does he have anything left was basically not really. That was just basically an emergency filler. So again, he’s a big name and all that, but just because like Kenyan Green was released by the Philadelphia Eagles, he’s a former first round pick, which is a big name and all that, that doesn’t mean he’s going to make your team better. Um, and I’m that doesn’t mean I’m opposed to the Dolphins putting in waiver claims and all that. It’s just, and this also relates to, and I’m sorry because I like the dude, it relates to Nick Nem also, and everybody going nuts and like Dolphin should bring him back, guy. Folks, Nick Nim was on the Dolphins practice squad in 2024. So, number one, a couldn’t make the ATK roster and b the Dolphins didn’t sign him to a future contract after the season. They signed everybody but two. It was Nick Needam and Skyler Thompson, which basically is an indication of like, no, we’re good. Thanks. Uh, so all of a sudden now they’re going to be hot and bothered about the idea of bringing him back. No, I mean he was a great story in 2019 and had had some moments with the Dolphins, but it kind of went south for him after he had that nasty injury uh in 2022 in a game against the Vikings. But again, this there’s there romanticized notion that the guy just because you know him and all that and he’s played some good football for you at one point that he’s going to make your team better. And I just it’s not based in reality. Anyway, but they go back to my original point about Marshall is with Marshall, Kenneth Grant, Jonas of Devon Han for Mike McDaniel continues to say he’s going to be fine for week one, but we’re looking at four three starters in the in the three rookies in the starting lineup in week one against the Colts in possibility. And then another one who’s going to play a significant role, that being Ali Gordon, too. Um, and if those guys play reasonably well, that’s that’s hitting a draft. And maybe that’ll make some fans uh less what’s the word I’m looking for? Acrimonious towards Chris Gri. No, I know that’s not. But no, I mean, give the man if that happens to be the case. Yeah. Yeah. know, every time I try to give Chris Greer some credit for his work at cornerback, I get pounded on social media and it’s and if I I bring up uh Tater Kohu and Storm Duck, it’s like perk, they’re not Madison and Certain. Like I never said they were, but I Yeah, I it’s it’s hard to it’s hard to give Greer credit for anything. So yeah, it’s it’s Yeah, it’s uh but but we’ll we’ll see with Jason Marshall Jr. and we’ll see with this draft. Uh but we have to go right very slowly with this because especially if you consider rookies starting on the road in week one. Wow. That that’s a big ass. There’s probably going to be some major mistakes made. You just hope that they aren’t costly mistakes. But that they’re rookies on the road in game one. You know, you got to temper your expectations and be more realistic here. No. Correct. Um, and this goes back to the whole thing, um, about like, hey, temporary, it’s perfectly fine to be very very optimistic. Yep. Also, don’t don’t go nuts if it doesn’t always pan out the way you want it to. Um, so off the top of my head, and please feel free to add the names that I’m missing. So far, the reports have indicated that the players who have been released or waved so far would include the two running backs I mentioned, Boon Shamplin, wide receiver AJ Henning, tight end Chris Mrick, offensive lineman Addison West, offensive lineman Jaylen McKenzie, offensive lineman Jackson Carman, defensive lineman Ben Stilly, um cornerback Cameron Dancler, the recent pick of former third round pick of the Vikings, and cornerback Ethan Robinson. Yeah, that’s Yeah, that’s aside from Yeah. Pharaoh and and Mike Hilton. I think that’s it off the top of my head. Yeah. Okay. And again, uh Liamenberg, I would be shocked if he doesn’t start on PUP, which will sideline him for the first four games of the season. Ethan Bonner is one of those who could be put on IR to start the season along with Jason Sanders possibly. Uh, are you with me by the way though, dude? That I I’m thinking where as at one point in training camp I was like, “Dude, not making the team.” Now, I’d be shocked if he didn’t. That’s Cam Smith. Yeah, I think Cam Smith is on. I I do. Um, yeah. Especially I I It’s hard to say you need his experience, but you need his experience. And I know the guy the guy is going in his third season and he’s hardly played, but he you kind of need that experience back there. Plus, he is a a second round pick. Um, so yeah, I don’t I I’ll say this. I don’t see the harm in in putting him on the initial 53 because quite honestly, I saw more out of him than I saw out of Mike Hilton. Yeah. And and truth is, the last couple of weeks since he’s been back from that knee injury, he’s actually looked pretty solid. And he did something that to me was it’s like microscopically significant in the grand scheme of things. If you saw the Dolphins social media account had a shot, I don’t if it was a stiller video, I forget. Um is after a big play after the John S. Saunders interception against the Jaguars on Saturday night where a whole bunch of the defenders were went into the end zone to celebrate with him and Cam Smith was in there and for me it was like again it it’s really not very significant when you think about it. I mean the main guys were there Willie Gay Jay and Phyllis Bradley Chub were all there. But to me, one of the issues it seemed always seemed with Cam Smith was like I always wondered about the level of engagement that the dude had and and just that to me that that gesture, the fact that he was there in there to go celebrate that play, it meant something. Maybe I’m completely crazy. Wouldn’t be the first time anybody’s thrown that my way, but that actually had significance to me. I don’t know where he was on the field, if he was across the field or if he was aware of it. But yeah, that you you don’t like to see that because sometimes, you know, with C So with Cam Smith, I I’ll I’ll tell you all this that um I look at his body language a lot as you do during practice and and a lot of times he doesn’t seem to be engaged. I do think that Cam Smith gives a damn. I do think that he’s there for more than just picking up a paycheck. I think he cares. I I but his body language isn’t always the most engaging and so with things like what you’re talking about Yeah. It does make me wonder. But in the No, he was perk. He was there. That’s my point. He was He was there. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. That’s what that’s what I thought was very significant to me. And and I was going to say in the locker room after the game, he seemed to be in a very good mood. Him and Iffy Melon Fu were talking and he he seemed to be very lively and active. So yeah, sometimes um appearances can be a little deceiving and and so yeah, with with Cam though I I do think that he cares and so it’s good that he was there. I misunderstood you. It’s good that he was there and I did see signs of him being engaged during and after the game. So look for for a guy like Cam, he’s young. Uh it was rough for him under Vic Fangio. Last year was rough. He’s battled injuries. There’s high expectations. who knows what’s going on in anybody’s life. Um, you know, whether it’s personal or or or athletic or or whatever. So, uh, I try not to go too heavily on that, but I I I think Cam is going to be on the on the initial 53, and like you said, what we’ve seen from him recently has been an improvement. So, yeah, I would say thumbs up to Cam being on the initial 53. Yeah, I would think so as well. The one that’s a mystery for me is Kendall Sheffield because we don’t know his injuries a little bit nebulous. We did not ask Mike McDaniel about him. We asked about a lot of other players. Austin Jackson still on track for week one. We’ve already discussed Jason Sanders and Jaylen Wright. Um Kenneth Grant, Mike McDaniel said not worried about week one as far as he’s concerned. Devonte Channy earlier said he was confident be ready for week one. We stopped asking about Tariq because based on McDaniel’s comments seems to be not a concern. Um, we didn’t ask about Ashton Davis. Correct. And Ashton Davis has been out of the boot and and I’m now at the point where and again now we we still got two weeks before the start of the regular season. He’s been out of the boot for like a good week. Yep. Could he could it’s possible that he could even be in the lineup on in week one? I I’m not putting it out of the realm of possibility anymore. Dante Trader Jr. goes from out of the lineup back in practice out of the lineup again. Is he a candidate for IR? Ethan Bonner with the hamstring injury which is going to be quote unquote weeks. I think he’s a massive candidate for IR whether it’s immediately put there tomorrow or whether it’s he makes a 53 and they put him there on Wednesday and then um Andrew Myers another one’s a question mark we didn’t ask about him today. So, uh, there’ll be an interesting there’ll be a lot of interesting decisions without question. There will and and that, you know, I didn’t ask McDaniel about injuries and I probably should have, but I asked them about some some linebackers inside and outside and their special teams were Quinton Bell, Cam Good, and Channing Tindle, who were all out there as core special teams guys on on Saturday. I’m not sure if that meant they were getting a look or if they’re on. Isaiah Johnson got an extended look on special teams Saturday also. I don’t think he’s going to be on the initial 53man roster, but he did get an extended look. But but for good and Tindle and and Quinton Bell, yeah, those special teams and I I I don’t know how Craig Aerman how much say so he has or how he views them, but I I think all three of them have done a good job on special teams this year from from what I’ve seen this preseason. Yeah, we also should mention that both Channing Tindle and rookie free for agent linebacker Eugene Asante were injured in the game against Jacksonville. I and I don’t recall either one of them getting back in the game after they were injured. Didn’t look like Tindle’s injury was necessarily terribly significant whereas Asante’s kind of maybe looked a tad ominous. didn’t ask about him and this could be a case where in fact if it is semi-significant they might just put him I was going to say stash him put him on IR the whole year the kid the kids the kid can play I don’t I don’t know what kind of NFL he’s going to have but he can play the physical dimensions are a tad less than ideal but the kid shows good instincts and I I’ll say this for Asante uh we did see him leave the field with trainers with a towel over his head so he he might have been emotional. The poor kid, man. You feel bad for him because I I think he got injured on a sack a couple of plays before he went out of the game. He stayed in and um when he went down, you know, the fact that Mike McDaniel went out there to see him um told you that Mike is a little bit concerned or might have some, you know, some feelings, uh you know, some personal feelings there. But Asante flies around. That kid flies around, man. So, yeah, you you really felt bad for him that, you know, late in in the final preseason game, two days before cuts, uh, he leaves the field with I I don’t know if it was a knee or or whatever, lower extremity injury, but that kid flies around. He hustles. Yeah. So, if he’s one of those who w up on IR tomorrow, it wouldn’t surprise me or weight injured if the Dolphins don’t want to keep him around or want to give him a shot to line with somebody else once he does recover. We shall see. as far as that’s concerned. Um, I think that takes care of the all of all the stuff for today. Uh, this is the first time I’m speaking to you since the game against the Jaguars. What was your biggest takeaway from the game? Oh boy. Um, that’s a good question. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. I, you know, I I I I don’t know that anybody really um Ali Gordon did a good job uh running hard. I’m trying to think of anybody aside from Ali really solidified a position. I didn’t see much from the quarterbacks that changed anything. The two Washingtons, Malik and Taj, uh, we we I thought that they were both on anyway. D E S E S E S E S E S E S E S E S E S E Sridge, I thought he was on anyway. None of the backup offensive linemen did anything especially good to me. Um, so that’s that’s not good for them. I thought the backup defensive linemen did well enough to make cases for themselves. guys such as Zeke Biggers, who continues to play with what appears to be a harness on his right arm slashshoulder, but he’s out there digging it out, looking good. I think he makes the 53. Um, the cornerbacks, I don’t know that anybody did anything that that changed my mind about anything. Cam Smith made a fairly good representation for himself, but didn’t really make any plays. Uh, I will say that Jordan Colbert was a core special teams guy on Saturday. So, um, that’s that’s kind of interesting. Um, that’s probably and and Jake Bailey will not be kicking more 51 yard field goals. I observed that. So, there you go. Okay. Yeah. Well, you know what? And I’m glad you brought brought him up because I didn’t get into detail with what’s going on with Jason Sanders. Uh, Mike McDaniel said after the game that Jason Sanders had assured him it was nothing serious. And then today, Magdal made a point to say, well, you know, it’s a good thing he’s a better kicker than he is a doctor because uh he’s talking he’s we’re talking not season ending, but missed the start of the season. And shortly after Mike McDaniel spoke to us, there was a report from Adam Shfter that it’s a hip injury. And we’re talking five four to five weeks, which is why I keep talking about Sanders possibly starting the season on IR. And it also means the Dolphins will need a kicker for the first month of the regular season. And if you look at the list of free agent kickers who are out there, it’s Zayn Gonzalez, Matt Prader, who once upon a time was in Dolphin camp, who’s also 41 years old. It’s Eddie Panero, who used to kick for the Carolina Panthers. There’s a competition involved with the Steelers, where it’s not a competition because they have Chris Boswell, but they have a UDFA who’s looked apart, um, whose name escapes me right now. In fact, I can look it up very quickly. And then somebody brought up an interesting name which I don’t think is gonna happen but it’s an interesting name nonetheless. And in the interest of thoroughess I’ll mention it and that’s Jason Justin Tucker. Yeah. Yeah. Who is Haven’t they they’ve had a couple of local guys haven’t they? Didn’t they had a kid from Palm Beach? Uh was it Cody? Uh what what was the kid’s name? Come on. Jason buddy. Cody Park. Cody Parky. And then I think there was somebody else that was a local kicker during maybe the flow or gase years, but um Joseph maybe Greg Joseph I think is still available. Greg Joseph. Greg Joseph FAU, right? Uh yeah, he’s available. He’s not a bad kicker. Let me give you the other ones. Uh let me find it here. Uh here we go. Uh Austin Sebert’s another one. Mike Badgleyum guy. Uh kicked for the Lions. uh Panthers who are reportedly releasing kicker Matthew Wright and Matthew Wright. Dolphin should get him just for for him to make up for what he did against them for the Jacksonville Jaguars in London in 2021 if you remember that dude had never made like a field goal longer than 35 yards in his career and he nailed like a 53 yard at the buzzer to beat the Dolphins. Uh, anybody on that list who was with Craig Aerman in Tennessee or with Mike McDaniel in San Francisco? Don’t believe so. Uh, there’s a battle apparently in New England between John Parker Romo and rookie six round pick from M Andreas Borgales. Uh, and then I’m looking for the Steelers guy and his name escapes me right now. Um, so anyway, and then as I mentioned, Justin Ter, I don’t think the Dolphins are going to go there. Um, but they’ll be it’ll chances are it’ll be one of those guys. Um, to hold down the fort and it doesn’t necessarily have somebody that they signed to the 53. They for all we know, they could go the long snapper route like they did last year is sign somebody to the practice squad, elevate him three times and go look for another kicker. kickers generally are going to be available, right, for a short-term emergency. Now, you and the other part of it is if Jason Sanders is back by week five, you don’t want anybody else but Jason Sanders. Right. Right. Who uh if I’m not mistaken, is doesn’t he have a franchise record 27 consecutive field goals made? Am I imagining that? Jason Sanders. I don’t know. I have to look that up. I think he I think he does. I think he I think he’s on a record. I think he’s got a record number of field goals made. That unless I’m thinking of another kicker, but anyway, that’s that’s the way to derail the show. Were you thinking about Gary Premier? It could be. I could be him or Lindo Mari. What? Yeah, there you go. Very nice. And this has been our this has been our history lesson. Uh Petanovich, Dan Carpenter, Andrew Franks. That’s right. Von Shaman. very trying to think of all the they’ve had they’ve had some good kickers actually. Jason Sanders uh I’ve had a hard time thinking of a better one. Like his 2020 season was completely outrageous. So anyway, the deal is he’s going to miss the first month of the season. Again, it’s not ideal. And as you look around the league, yes, the Dolphins have had probably more injuries in training camp than most NFL teams. I don’t know if it’s the most around the league. there are certain teams that have been uh been battered as well. You know, such as the nature of the NFL, what you want is once the regular season starts, you want those um those significant injuries to not occur, especially to your frontline players. So, um you mentioned I’m trying to remember what we talking about. We’re talking about the the preseason game against Oh, you don’t want to see Jake Bailey? Yeah. No, we don’t want to see Jake Bailey doing any more kickoffs as well. I will say this though, that was the only blemish on the special teams which have been heading into the season. It’s like I mean night and day compared to what they’ve been last year and the years before that. So that’s massive massive improvement there. So uh final thoughts, perk, anything at all? Uh that’s it. Well, you know what? I I I did write a column today saying that um I I think the defense could surpass the offense this year. that the front seven is good enough even with the cornerback situation because the depth on the offense is so thin and and the defensive front seven has good depth even at safety you have improving depth those guys have improved if Ashton Davis can play ify Melon Funw Elijah Campbell with Minka Fitzpatrick you you could go to battle like that uh but but offensively yeah your depth at at almost every position quarterback offensive running back who I like, Ali Gordon. All your tight ends are shady. I shouldn’t say shady, I should say suspect. I know shady sounds so bad. Not not like suspect is any better. And and and your depth at receiver is unproven. So, um I I I like this defense. The more I see this defense, even though I wrote during the off season that the defense was neglected compared to what the offense got, the defense the offense got their new coach in Bobby Slowick. They got their big receiver in and NWI. They got their big running back in Alexander Madison. They got the two guards. Uh they got Larry Boram. I The defense has really has really shined during the uh preeason and the offseason. I’m impressed with what uh Weaver and those coaches have done. No, without question. I think if we were to, and in fact, maybe that’s that’s an idea for a story I should write for my Dolphin onsai.com. If we take heading into the regular season, position by position, those that have been the most improved since this time last year, I think pretty much all of them would be on defense. I’m looking safety should be much better. Cornerback obviously not. But the off the- ball linebacker position to me is much better than it was last year. Y edge defender is better. Y especially now you have Chuck back and he wasn’t there last year at this time and now you have Matthew Judon on top of that. the DTackle. It’s a close call except you would think it’s better because of Kenneth Grant as a first round pick, but Deshan Hanim was a good solid player last year. Um and yeah, and then that’s safety and that know that’s the D tackles the edge better linebacker better. Yeah, safety better. So, uh we shall see. Anyway, uh tomorrow should be a really really fun day, eventful day because this is the day where all the moves will become official. Dolphins if we go with they released what 13 players today that would put them down to 77 means 24 more moves a lot of moves which means we could expect maybe some bigger names some surprises possibly a trade or two I’d love trades I like trades I don’t know about you I love trades give me one of those Yeah. Yeah. No you I I don’t think we see enough trades in the NFL. I it doesn’t need to get to NBA level but I I’m with you. I love trades. So hopefully we get one of those and then when we do we’ll be back here to recap it. So in the meantime, he is Chris Perkins from the South Florida Sunsel. Check out his fine work at sunsel.com. Perk, when you have a Dolphins deep dive with Perk again. We are planning noon Friday. Excellent. We’ll be back here on the old Dolphins podcast tomorrow. I’m going to guess late afternoon. Um in the meantime, please check out my Dolphinsite.com where all the content is free. Like, subscribe, comment, all that good stuff. Thanks and enjoy the rest of your Monday.

Miami Dolphins on SI Publisher Alain Poupart (@PoupartNFL) is joined by Chris Perkins from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel to discuss the Monday roster moves, the injuries to Jason Sanders and Jaylen Wright, the preseason finale, and more. Make sure to follow Alain on Twitter at @PoupartNFL and Blusky at @alainpoupart.bsky.social, and read his stories (free content) on Miami Dolphins on SI at si.com/nfl/dolphins.