*** DOLPHINS NEWS ***
Aug 12, 1997: -- Nedney, Chris Gray and 5 Others Released --
The Dolphins announced today that they have released 7 players
from the roster to bring it down to 74 total. The players released
are former starters Joe Nedney and Chris Gray, along with RB Brandon
Bennett, CB Melvin Cunningham, CB Cedric Davis, WR Terence Davis, and
QB Spence Fischer.
Gray was a fifth round draft choice of the Dolphins in 1993
and has started about half of his career at right guard for the
Dolphins. Last year, he was the starting offensive guard until he was
injured in the middle of the year.
Joe Nedney was signed as a free agent last year and went on to
displace Pete Stoyanovich as the starting kicker for the team. This
spring, the Dolphins brought in Olindo Mare to compete with Nedney and
decided after this weekend that Mare had won the starting job.
Brandon Bennett was signed as a free agent last year and spent
most of the season on the practice squad, along with quarterback
Spence Fischer. The rest of the players were unrestricted free agents
signed by the Dolphins this spring.
In other news, following the game against the Bears on Sunday,
the Dolphins have decided to take Mike Crawford out of the starting
lineup and move Dwight Hollier into the middle. Anthony Harris will
move from his current weakside linebacker's slot into Hollier's old
strongside spot and rookie Derrick Rodgers will get his chance to
start when he takes the starting position at weakside linebacker in
place of Anthony Harris.
Following the waivers and other changes, the Dolphins depth
chart looks approximately like this:
OFFENSE:
Pos Starters 2nd Team 3rd Team Others
QB - Marino Erickson Huard
RB - Abdul-Jabbar McPhail Parmalee Spikes
FB - Pritchett Wilson Dotson Nealy
WR - Barnett(inj.) L.Thomas Manning Green(inj.) Dar Dar(inj.)
WR - Mcduffie Jordan Dawsey Stanley Miller(inj)
TE - Drayton Perry Wainright Reeves
LT - Webb B.Smith Buckey
LG - Sims Elmore Wheeler
C - Ruddy Bock Elmore
RG - McIver Young
RT - Brown Sheldon Daniels
DEFENSE:
RDE - Taylor L.Jackson Stubbs(inj)
RDT - Gardener Hand Tanner
LDT - Bowens Burton Sturgis Mohring
LDE - Armstrong Anderson
WLB - Rodgers Lillibridge
MLB - Hollier Crawford Z.Thomas(inj) Izzo(inj.)
SLB - Harris Ward Brigance
CB - Jackson Madison(inj)Holmes
CB - Buckley Jacobs Wilson
FS - Harris Hill Anthony
SS - Wooden Teague Little
SPECIAL TEAMS:
P - Kidd
K - Mare
Pr - Jordan, Holmes
Kr - Holmes, Spikes, Jordan, McPhail
My Comments:
Whew! When JJ makes up his mind, things certainly happen
fast and that makes for a very exciting camp.
The release of Nedney was surprising enough, but the
subsequent release of Chris Gray is just astonishing. Not because
Gray is that great a player, but because Gray is an experienced
veteran and the Dolphins are short on real talent at the offensive
line position.
It's also a shock because I didn't see it coming....
Look at it this way - while Gray isn't the best offensive
lineman around by any means, he kept working his way into the starting
lineup every year. You'd hear that Gray stunk and that they wanted to
get rid of him and then he'd be starting again.
And now he's gone. I know that JJ always takes decisive steps
when needed, but I still am having trouble getting used to the temp of
his moves.
Of course, I've already made my feelings known about Nedney.
Even if Mare graded out better in camp, that doesn't guarantee that
he'll be better on the field and I would liked to see them let Nedney
and Mare kick against one another for the last two pre-season games.
Still, if Mare works out, JJ will be hailed as a genius. If
Mare bombs, JJ will be lambasted for not keeping Nedney.
Now, I'm off to catch my breath after all these changes.
Related Info:
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Curt Fennell,
curt@phins.com, DOLFAN in New Rochelle (almost)
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