Roster Trimmed to 53

On Saturday, the Dolphins trimmed the roster down to the mandated 53 players.

WR Az-Zahir Hakim and FB Cory Schlesinger had their contracts terminated. LB Jim Maxwell, LB Robert McCune, WR P.K. Sam, and G Dan Stevenson were waived with injuries. That means the team will reach injury settlements with those four players. In addition to those six players, 16 players were waived outright. They are as follows:

• TE Courtney Anderson
• DE Mkristo Bruce
• DE Jorge Cordova
• FB Kyle Eckel
• G Tala Esera
• TE Aaron Halterman
• QB Gibran Hamdan
• S Tuff Harris
• CB Derrick Johnson
• G Marquay Love
• WR Michael Malone
• TE Tim Massaquoi
• G Stephen Parker
• CB Geoff Pope
• DT Brian Soi
• T Julius Wilson

There's not too many surprises among that list, although I thought that Courtney Anderson would have made the team as the third TE. As it stands now, the team is carrying only two TEs. I also thought the team would carry more than 8 offensive lineman. Granted, the bottom of the roster will continue to be tinkered with in the coming days as the waiver wire is scoured for castoffs from the other 31 teams.

I'm not totally surprised to see Hakim get cut even though I predicted him to make the final roster. It was evident during the preseason that he's not completely healthy, and it makes more sense to carry a younger guy with upside rather than a quickly degenerating player with more experience. I also predicted Schlesinger to make the final roster, but in a move similar to last season when Darian Barnes beat out Fred Beasley for the starting FB spot, rookie Reagan Mauia is now the only true FB on the roster. Schlesinger didn't live up to expectations at all during the preseason, and Mauia's upside will do enough to make up for the loss of Schlesinger's experience.

Look for more roster updates in the coming days.