The Miami Dolphins have grown accustomed to life “on the clock”. The Dolphins have owned a serious amount of draft capital over the past few years, so being on a timeline to make critical decisions isn’t necessarily foreign territory for this group. But this is a different kind of clock the Dolphins find themselves on this morning; because by 4PM EST on Tuesday, the team must find their way down to 53 players on the active roster.
Good luck, given some of the positional battles we’ve seen unfold for this team. But never the less the act must be complete, and so Miami must now go to work and define their roster for the season.
Here are three Dolphins players on the roster bubble who helped their cause in Week 3 of the preseason versus Cincinnati:
WR Kirk Merritt
Merritt made this list last week, too. He had an even more impressive and productive day against the Bengals; logging 3 receptions for 72 yards and a touchdown as Miami leapt back into the game despite trailing by 12 halfway through the fourth quarter. Merritt’s 44-yard touchdown was a big reason Miami climbed back in; and it came immediately after an offensive penalty on Merritt the play before to negate a big gain.
That resiliency paired with his athleticism and versatility to play special teams has him well positioned to claim one of the bottom spots on the 53-man roster.
RB Gerrid Doaks
Doaks didn’t have a great yards per carry average but he also got popped for a loss on one play later in the game that helped negate his numbers. But he ran hard down by the goal line, punching in two short-yardage touchdown runs and showing a little bit of subtle wiggle to create some false steps for would-be tacklers. Doaks is in a battle with third-year back Patrick Laird for the RB4 spot on the depth chart; this game will be a big part of the reason why Doaks gets it if the team goes that direction.
QB Reid Sinnett
More passing yards in a preseason game than any quarterback since 2017?
.@ReidSinnett‘s 343 passing yards today are the most by any NFL player in a preseason game since at least 2017.
— Brett Brecheisen (@bbrech) August 29, 2021
Yeah, that’ll do it. Whether or not Miami actively carries three quarterbacks on the roster is yet to be determined; and those numbers will be hard to make work. But kudos to Sinnett for making this conversation a challenging one and one that doesn’t appear to have an easy answer for the Dolphins. He was tremendous on Sunday against the Bengals with the lone exceptions being a couple of routes that sat down in the middle of the field that didn’t appear to have good timing; one of which careened off a receiver’s hand for Sinnett’s lone turnover on the day.
