The Miami Dolphins hit the 53-man roster limit Sunday with a roster that still looks unfinished in a few spots, a trade for quarterback Kyle McCord, and two painful injury-list moves on defense.
The biggest immediate surprise on the initial cutdown list is how heavy the Dolphins are at wide receiver and offensive line. They kept seven receivers and 10 offensive linemen, which is the kind of number that usually doesn’t survive the first wave of roster trimming. That almost certainly means more movement is coming over the next couple of days, whether through waiver claims or trades.
Miami’s full set of moves included waiving T Gottlieb Ayedze, CB Miles Battle, S Major Burns, TE Jeremiah Franklin, QB Mark Gronowski, RB Jarquez Hunter, WR Donaven McCulley, EDGE Rodney McGraw, CB Jai'Onte' McMillan, QB Cam Miller, DL Fatorma Mulbah, ILB Cam Riley and RB Carlos Washington Jr.
The Dolphins also released DL Matthew Butler, ILB Tyrel Dodson, EDGE Cameron Goode, T Charlie Heck, S Lonnie Johnson Jr., WR Terrace Marshall Jr., WR Jalen Reagor and CB Marco Wilson. On top of that, they moved CBs Storm Duck and Darrell Baker Jr. to the Reserve/PUP list, while DT Kenneth Grant and LB Trey Moore were placed on IR with a designation to return.
The roster breakdown the team landed on Sunday looked like this:
RB (4) - De'Von Achane, Jaylen Wright, Ollie Gordon II, FB D.J. Herman
WR (7) - Malik Washington, Chris Bell, Caleb Douglas, Kevin Coleman Jr., Jalen Tolbert, Ryan Miller, A.J. Henning
TE (4) - Greg Dulcich, Will Kacmarek, Seydou Traore, Ben Sims
OL (10) - Aaron Brewer, Patrick Paul, Austin Jackson, Jonah Savaiinaea, Kadyn Proctor, Josh Priebe, Andrew Meyer, Caedan Wallace, Marques Cox, D.J. Campbell
DL (4) - Zach Sieler, Zeek Biggers, Jordan Phillips, Keith Cooper Jr.
EDGE (5) - Chop Robinson, Josh Uche, Robert Beal Jr., Clelin Ferrell, Max Llewellyn
LB (6) - Jordyn Brooks, Jacob Rodriguez, Willie Gay Jr., Jackson Woodard, Ronnie Harrison Jr., Kyle Louis
CB (5) - Chris Johnson, JuJu Brents, Jason Marshall Jr., Ethan Bonner, A.J. Green III
S (3) - Zayne Anderson Dante Trader Jr., Michael Taaffe
SP (3) - K Riley Patterson, P Bradley Pinion, LS Tucker Addington
Safety was the clearest red flag all along, and nothing Sunday changed that. The Dolphins went into camp with the position under the microscope and came out of cutdown day still carrying just three safeties, not counting Kyle Louis, who can play multiple spots.
They kept their veteran free-agent addition, their returning player and their draft pick, while Louis Moore, Lonnie Johnson Jr. and Major Burns all had chances to make a case and didn’t stick. Safety remains the biggest concern.
There was at least one major bright spot for the front office: every member of the Dolphins’ draft class made the roster, with Trey Moore starting on IR. That leaves the class at 13-for-13, and barring a change before the opener, it would stand as the most draft picks the team has ever had make the roster.
The only real question marks in that group were the final two selections, guard D.J. Campbell and edge Max Llewellyn.
Campbell could still be vulnerable if Miami makes room on the offensive line for another addition.
The Jarquez Hunter move stood out, too. The Dolphins traded Tutu Atwell to the L.A.
Rams for Hunter, and even though Hunter didn’t make the 53 after only a couple of days with no practice or game action, the trade still makes sense financially for Miami, at least modestly. Atwell wasn’t going to make the roster anyway, even with seven receivers kept.
Hunter could still end up back with the Dolphins, either on the practice squad or the 53.
And while this wasn’t a day loaded with household-name cuts because of how young and unproven this roster was built to be, a couple of moves still jumped off the page. Dodson’s release was the most notable.
So was the decision to move on from Charlie Heck, who had signed from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the offseason and had steadied himself after a rough start to camp. Miami instead kept Caedan Wallace and Marques Cox, two tackles with a combined 10 NFL games of experience, all of them Wallace’s.
In Other News...
Dolphins Backfield Suddenly Has One Trade Question Fans Should Watch
The Dolphins have already made one backfield move this week, shipping Tutu Atwell to the Rams in exchange for running back Jarquez Hunter, and it was the kind of swap that naturally invites a little roster-watching in Miami. Any time a team adds a young runner, it stirs up the same question about how the depth chart might shift, especially for a club that has spent a lot of time trying to get the right mix behind its top options.
Josh Jacobs legal situation in Green Bay only adds another layer to the conversation around running back movement around the league, even if there is nothing official on Miamis side yet. For the Dolphins, the intrigue is less about a completed deal than about whether the market could keep opening up and make one of their own players a candidate to move if the right opportunity comes along. [Read more 🡒]
Dolphins Just Made A Cut That Says A Lot About Their Priorities
With roster cutdown day closing in, the Dolphins made one of the more revealing moves of their late-summer cleanup by releasing linebacker Tyrel Dodson along with eight other players. The decision is believed to be tied to finances, with Miami creating about $3 million in salary cap space as it trims the roster and reshapes the back end of the team.
The timing adds another layer to a day that already included a trade of quarterback Quinn Ewers to the Jacksonville Jaguars for a 2028 sixth-round pick. Between the cap move and the draft-pick shuffle, Miami is clearly treating this stretch as more than a simple numbers exercise, with every transaction hinting at how the front office is sorting priorities before the season starts. [Read more 🡒]
Dolphins Just Raised A Bigger Question About Their Quarterback Plan
The Dolphins used the cutdown deadline to reshape a few corners of the roster, and the moves were more revealing than routine. Miami sent wideout Tutu Atwell to the Rams for running back Jarquez Hunter, then dealt quarterback Quinn Ewers to Jacksonville for a 2028 sixth-round pick pending a physical, while also waiving more than a dozen players and claiming two others. On paper, it was a busy churn of fringe roster business. In practice, it also nudged the conversation back toward how Miami wants to build out the back end of the depth chart and where it stands with its quarterback room.
Ewers was never going to be the headliner here, but moving him anyway is the kind of decision that gets attention because it touches the one position teams almost never stop managing. The financial angle matters too, since these kinds of trades can help shape the books while clearing space for other players, and Miami clearly chose flexibility over keeping a developmental arm in house. The bigger question now is what this says about the Dolphins broader quarterback plan, especially with the deadline pressure easing and the roster nearly set. [Read more 🡒]