3 biggest surprises from the Miami Dolphins’ initial 53-man roster cutdown
The Miami Dolphins are officially at 53 players. What are the biggest surprises from their cutdown effort?
And then there were 53. The Miami Dolphins‘ initial trim from 90 players is done. There will be more tinkering — as early as today. The heavy lifting, though? Finished.
What were the biggest surprises out of the effort? Which ones are a sign of future moves left to be made? Here are my three biggest surprises from the Dolphins’ initial 53-man roster cut for the 2026 season.
3 biggest surprises from the Miami Dolphins’ initial 53-man roster cutdown
Retaining seven(!!!) wide receivers
Look. AJ Henning had a terrific camp, all things considered. Do I expect Henning to be an impact player this year? No. But for expectations versus reality, Henning was a big winner this month. I get keeping him. I understand keeping Jalen Tolbert on account of the guaranteed salary in a year where Miami is already boasting more restricted cap accounting than any team in the history of the league.
But keeping both, PLUS recently claimed WR Ryan Miller was a huge surprise to me. I would suspect this will not be the case after the waiver wire transactions are announced on Monday afternoon.
The Kyle McCord trade
It became apparent that Miami was going to make something shake when they traded Ewers on Saturday afternoon. I did not imagine them flipping the same pick they got for Ewers back out to acquire McCord. Yet that’s exactly what happened.
The NFL’s official transaction wire lists Miami’s pick via Jacksonville in 2028 as the asset going back to Green Bay. Surprised that Miami churned over a disappointing quarterback room? No. Surprised they secured a “high stock” option for the same price it cost to offload Ewers? Absolutely.
Releasing RB Jarquez Hunter just days after acquiring him via trade
The Dolphins acquired Hunter from the Los Angeles Rams at the end of last week. By Sunday afternoon, Hunter was waived. It’s a reminder of just how nasty the business can be sometimes. Shedding the Tutu Atwell guaranteed salary appears to be the main course, not the side dish of this trade. And Hunter was, apparently, just the player they wanted a closer look at to help make that happen.
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