Evans axed; International player acquired

Well, that didn't take long. On Thursday, the Dolphins waived DT Fred Evans. Despite Evans' youth and promise, it's clear that Cam Cameron is not willing to hold onto players who repeatedly get in legal trouble (although I'm pretty sure Joey Porter is going to be the exception to that rule. After all, Porter was Cameron's first big acquistion, whereas Evans was a leftover from Saban's regime. Hypocritical? Maybe. We'll have to wait to see how Porter's situation with the league plays out).

So how does this affect the Dolphins? Well, it's not going to be a seismic shock wave or anything. However, Evans was a talented youngster, almost certainly more talented than his possible replacements Kevin Vickerson and Chase Page. He probably would have proved a solid back end of the defensive line rotation this season while possibly becoming an effective starter sometime down the road. That vision is over now. Rookie Paul Soliai will likely become Keith Traylor's backup at the NT position immediately. I see Kevin Vickerson beating out Chase Page for the final spot in the rotation.

----------

According to the official team site, the Dolphins were assigned WR Marvin Allen (see picture above) as their International Practice squad player. Until this point, I was previously unaware of the International Practice squad designation. Here's how it works. Allen will join the Dolphins for training camp, but he will not count towards either the 53-man roster or the 8-man practice squad. The one catch is that he cannot sign to any team's active roster during the 2007 season which means that Dolphins fans shouldn't expect to see him getting called up for the game-day roster this year. The International Practice squad designation has been in use by the NFL since 2004 as a way to expose the most talented international players to the highest level of competition that is the NFL. And there really is no downside to having an extra practice squad player who doesn't count against any roster limits.

Allen (5'10", 180 lbs.) is 24 years old and a native of London, England. He has spent the last three years playing in NFL Europa. This past season, he recorded 21 receptions for 222 yards and one TD while playing for the Rhein Fire. He also spent the entire 2006 season on the Pittsburgh Steelers practice squad as their International Practice squad player.