Thursday Miami Dolphins Notebook: Cracraft to 53, Checking the Odds, and More
No longer having the option of elevating him from the practice squad for a 2022 regular season game, the Miami Dolphins are doing what they have to to keep wide receiver River Cracraft.
The Dolphins will be signing him to their 53-man roster in time for the Thursday night game against the Cincinnati Bengals after he exhausted his three practice squad elevations in the first three games, as first reported by NFL Network reporter Mike Garafolo and confirmed by a league source.
Cracraft will fill the roster opening that was created when the team placed tackle Austin Jackson on injured reserve before the Week 2 game against the Baltimore Ravens.
In the first three games, Cracraft has been the choice as fifth wide receiver ahead of rookie fourth-round pick Erik Ezukanma, a decision we explored in a recent story.
STAT STORIES
As special teams coach Danny Crossman suggested during his Zoom session with the media Tuesday morning, Emmanuel Ogbah now has been credited with a field goal block for the missed 38-yard attempt by Bills kicker Tyler Bass early in the fourth quarter of the game Sunday.
The ruling, which officially gave Ogbah his first NFL field goal block, erase the previous description of a missed field goal attempt.
There was another stat change from that Buffalo game, but that one is not going to help a Dolphins player, in this case punter Thomas Morstead.
Because his punt technically wasn’t blocked but rather went off the butt of teammate Trent Sherfield, Morstead now has been given a punt for 0 yards for the kick that resulted in a safety.
As a resulted, his final stats for Sunday now read five punts for 218 yards and a 43.6 average instead of four punts and a 54.5 average.
Scroll to Continue
REPRESENTING THEIR COUNTRY
Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is one of six Dolphins players who will participate in an NFL initiative for Weeks 4-5 allowing players to wear a decal of an international country to celebrate their heritage.
Tagovailoa will don the Samoan flag in a nod to his parents’ and grandparents’ cultural heritage.
“I am proud to represent my heritage with the Samoan flag on my helmet,” Tagovailoa said. “My family and my culture are very important to me. Our name means everything, and it’s an honor to be able to represent not only my family’s name but also my Samoan heritage as an NFL player. I hope that in doing so, I can encourage kids from the islands to keep pursuing their dreams and to also be proud of their culture and where they’ve come from.”
Other Dolphins players scheduled to participate in the initiative are LB Sam Eguavoen (Nigeria), DB Jevon Holland (Canada), CB Noah Igbinoghene (Nigeria), CB Kader Kohou (Ivory Coast) and DE Emmanuel Ogbah (Nigeria).
NO PRACTICE SQUAD ELEVATIONS YET
While teams normally have to make their practice squad elevations the day before the game, the rules for Thursday night games allow for those moves to be made on game day.
So while the Dolphins didn’t do anything along those lines Wednesday, we’d still expect at the very least one move to be made because there currently are only seven offensive linemen on the active roster — and that includes Terron Armstead, who’s been dealing with a toe injury for the past three weeks.
Tackle Larnel Coleman has been elevated the past two weeks and is a candidate to get called up again, but the Dolphins instead could choose to go with either veteran newcomer Brandon Shell or training camp participant Kion Smith.
UNIFORM WATCH
For those wondering, the Dolphins will be wearing all-aqua uniforms Thursday.
That will contrast the Bengals, who are going with all-white unis complete with white striped helmets.
:quality(70)/d1hfln2sfez66z.cloudfront.net/06-11-2023/t_bfc2f5da57344fdf9332ce57c8d6173e_name_https___s3_amazonaws_com_syndication_abcaudio_com_files_2022_08_19_GettyImages_1242525514.jpg)