Saturday, November 8, 2008

Mathis waived; McChesney gets called up

There's no question that the right guard spot has been the biggest weakness on Miami's offensive line this year, due in no small part to Donald Thomas' season-ending injury in week one.

It's hurting the running game, and it may very well be affecting Vernon Carey and Samson Satele's performances, as they can't get any continuity next to them. Thus far, the team had been rotating Ikechuku Ndukwe and Evan Mathis at right guard with little success from either player.

Well this week, the coaches looked to shake things up. Mathis was waived and G Matt McChesney was promoted from the practice squad to take his place. Tony Sparano also hinted that Andy Alleman could get his chance at RG this week against Seattle.

I'm certainly in favor of seeing Alleman get his chance in the starting lineup, as he is a young player with a lot of potential. His ceiling is higher than Ndukwe's, but the most important thing is probably settling on one man to play the position full time. Constantly switching out linemen like that destroys the line continuity, and makes it harder for the unit as a whole to progress.

On another note, I haven't seen it officially reported yet, but I believe Omar Kelly wrote in one of his Sun-Sentinel blogs that the team had released TE Matthew Mulligan from the practice squad and re-signed CB Will Billingsley to it. McChesney's call-up creates an empty spot on the practice squad so perhaps Mulligan will be brought back. We shall see.

Here is what the team's practice squad looks like now:
  1. RB Lex Hilliard
  2. WR Anthony Armstrong
  3. LB Rob Ninkovich
  4. RB Jalen Parmele
  5. LB Will Kershaw
  6. DT Anthony Toribio
  7. CB Will Billingsley

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