Final 53 man roster predictions ahead of last cuts

The NFL regular season is an arm-lengths away, and teams are beginning to trim their rosters before Tuesday’s deadline as are the Miami Dolphins.

The Miami Dolphins have some tough decisions to make, as their roster must be cut from 80 players to 53, with 16 players eligible for the practice squad.

There has not been an update on the Dolphins’ CB2, Byron Jones, if he is not elevated from the PUP list by Tuesday at 4 pm, he will have to miss the first 4 games of the regular season.

I will be including Jones in my final 53-man roster, but definitely something to consider when the official roster is announced.

The easiest unit to predict is special teams, so I’m not going to waste any time.

• 1) Punter, Thomas Morstead.
• 2) Kicker, Jason Sanders.
• 3) Long snapper, Blake Ferguson.

These three positions have been set in stone for the entire summer. The Dolphins brought in no competition for the kicker or long snapper spot.

However, undrafted rookie punter Tommy Heatherly was given the first crack at outperforming the 14-year veteran Morstead but was replaced a few weeks ago by Sterling Hofrichter, a former seventh-round pick by the Falcons in 2020.

I’m about 99.9% sure Hofrichter will not be given the starting role for the Dolphins, but he may get a look to develop on the practice squad.

As far as Ferguson and Sanders go, they’ve been money all preseason. No botched snaps from Ferguson, and Sanders went 8/9, including 4 50-yard makes.

With the gimmie ones out of the way, here’s my best prediction of the Dolphins’ final roster.