What the Dolphins’ Roster Cutdowns Tell Us About This Team
The Miami Dolphins had one eventful 53-man roster cutdown day.
The Dolphins made a surprise release of one of their veteran starters from last season and pulled off a couple of trades to revamp their quarterback room.
General manager Jon-Eric Sullivan made it clear that the Dolphins’ objective is to remain young and build through the NFL draft. It’s a mantra that has helped carry the Green Bay Packers to the top of the NFL over the past two decades. For example, during Eric-Sullivan’s tenure in Green Bay (2004-2025), the Packers reached the playoffs 16 times over 22 seasons.
The Dolphins are in a complete rebuild mode with the largest dead cap hit of any NFL team. In other words, they’re expected to be the worst team in the NFL this season.
The moves made on cutdown day will hopefully ensure the Dolphins emerge as a winning organization in the near future, the way the Packers have over the past two decades.
The following are the three biggest surprises of Miami’s roster moves on cutdown day.
- The Tutu Atwell Trade
This move technically happened days before the 53-man roster cutdown weekend, but it was still a surprise. Tutu Atwell was one of three receivers with legitimate NFL experience, and he was projected to be one of Miami’s top three receivers.
Atwell — he produced 42 catches for 562 receiving yards during the 2024 season — was traded back to the Los Angeles Rams, his original NFL team, in exchange for running back Jarquez Hunter. The Dolphins would go on to release Hunter before bringing him back to the practice squad.
The emergence of rookie Caleb Douglas expedited Atwell’s departure.
The Dolphins will now enter the season with Malik Washington, Douglas and Jalen Tolbert as its top three receivers. Washington had the best 2025 season of all three receivers with 46 catches for 317 yards and three touchdowns.
It’s going to be a long season for Malik Willis.
- Trading for Kyle McCord
We knew the Dolphins needed an upgrade at quarterback behind Malik Willis after the disastrous performances of their backups throughout the preseason.
We knew Quinn Ewers was on the hot seat after a dismal preseason opener against the Washington Commanders in which he completed 1-of-8 passes for 27 yards, an interception and a 1.6 passer rating.
It didn’t help matters that Ewers suffered a groin injury that prevented him from making another preseason appearance, forcing the Dolphins to start and play the likes of Cam Miller and Mark Gronowski, two quarterbacks who are not NFL-caliber players.
The Dolphins wound up making a major move for Green Bay Packers quarterback Kyle McCord, who lit it up during the preseason. McCord threw four touchdowns for 446 yards and a 102.4 passer rating, punctuated by a four-touchdown performance in the preseason finale in a win over the Arizona Cardinals.
“I’ve always been a fan of his. I feel like, when you watch the kid play, he’s a ‘keep the train on the tracks’ kind of guy,” said Sullivan. “I think he processes the game quick. I think he throws an accurate, catchable football.”
McCord is obviously a project after he was cut by the Philadelphia Eagles at the end of the preseason last year, and he has no official NFL snaps under his belt. With that being said, he’s a major upgrade over Miller and Gronowski, and based upon preseason/training camp performance alone, he’s an upgrade over Ewers.
- Cutting Tyrel Dodson
We knew the Dolphins were already planning for the future with the selection of Jacob Rodriguez in the 2026 NFL Draft. He was a Heisman Trophy finalist and has a solid background coming from a military family. But it was still surprising to see the Dolphins move on from Tyrel Dodson.
Dodson was a 16-game starter for the Dolphins last season and one of their top performers with 129 tackles. He was entering the final year of a modest two-year, $8.25 million deal.
However, the Dolphins were ready to move towards the future with Rodriguez rather than spending another season with the 28-year-old in the starting lineup.
“T-Dod showed up, he was a pro, he competed,” Sullivan said. “It’s a very fair question, like, ‘Why would you move on from T-Dod?’ But I think it really just highlights how we feel about the young guys on the team.”
The 23-year-old Rodriguez will now step into a lead role as the green dot linebacker.
