Note on Green, Wilford cuts

The Dolphins ate some of their ill-fated contracts last week in rather interesting fashion. As you know, last year's marquee bust, Ernest Wilford, was let go. He had no chance of making the roster as either a wideout or a tight end: good riddance. Additionally, Eric Green, who was brought in at corner this offseason, was quickly jumped by "Surtain squared" on the depth chart (see last post). So, he found his place on the curb as well.

Clearly, the most interesting aspect of those two moves was not that two under-performing players were released...this much seems logical. What is truly intriguing is that this regime had the fortitude to admit its mistakes, do what was best for the future of the franchise, and move on. There are only a handful of other staffs in the league that would have even considered benching Wilford for all of last year, and even fewer that would have released him AND another free agent bust...before the latter even played in a real game!

I really respect that Parcells, Sparano, and Co (Ireland=Co) would do this, and even though I obviously wish they had never given away the wasted bonus money to begin with, there are few things they could be doing better towards making this franchise the best it could possibly be. That said, with an eye towards the future, here are two more players who I am pulling to see on the final roster cuts:

1) David Martin.

The man can catch passes. Unfortunately, however, not as well as a wide RECEIVER. Also unfortunate for him is that there is more to his position than catching passes. He is also expected to block somebody from time to time, and he simply does not get it done.

His contract is up after this year anyway (which means cutting him would cost a minimal cap hit...and free up his yearly salary), and you bet that Fasano is the only TE on this team with a big payoff on the horizon. Additionally, the Dolphins have two young tight ends, Haynos and Nalbone, who they seem to really like. If either or those guys is ready to be the #2 TE on this team, cut Martin now! The future is here, and it can block. I don't want to risk losing one of these young guys by trying to stow them on the practice squad.

2) Charlie Anderson

Anderson's situation is a bit more complicated, and a bit less of a no-brainer if you ask me, but I still think the Fins should consider it. Simply put, assuming Matt Roth stays off IR (maybe a big assumption), the Dolphins have 4 OLBs that are easily ahead of Anderson in my eyes (Taylor, Porter, and Wake being the others). My prerogative: cut one more failed free agent and let the young guys hold down the depth. Erik Walden on special teams was way more valuable to the 2008 Dolphins than Anderson as our pass rushing specialist. Unless he is flashing some real upside in his second camp with the Fins, I think it's time to move on (albeit much less confidently than with Martin...).