Who Are the Most Vulnerable Dolphins?
Offensive tackle Julién Davenport was the choice where our good friend Cameron Wolfe at ESPN picked his choice as the Dolphins veteran most in danger of not making the active roster.
The beauty of sports analysis is the ability to agree to disagree, which is exactly what we'll do at this time.
The one player who jumps out from this vantage point is running back Kalen Ballage.
The Dolphins did draft him in the fourth round of the 2018 NFL draft, but he's coming off a torn Achilles sustained in a December game against the Philadelphia Eagles but more importantly had a disastrous season before that.
Ballage actually was on course to set a record for lowest rushing average until he was sidelined with not enough carries to qualify for that mark.
In his 12 games, Ballage ended up with 135 rushing yards on 74 carries for a paltry 1.8 average.
This came, mind you, after Ballage had a really strong showing in training camp.
Now, it's only fair to mention that the Dolphins' run blocking was way below average last season, but that doesn't change the fact that Ballage made nothing happen on his own. Ballage was credited with breaking one tackle in 2019, the lowest number for any running back in the league with at least 40 rushing attempts.
The Dolphins signed Jordan Howard as a free agent and traded for Matt Breida in the offseason, which leaves room for one, perhaps two running backs on the roster. Ballage will have to beat out 2019 rookies Patrick Laird and/or Myles Gaskin, and that's not counting Malcolm Perry, the former Navy quarterback who's listed as a running back on the roster.
So, barring a strong showing in camp, it's easy to see Ballage being let go.
Beyond not agreeing that Davenport is the most vulnerable Dolphins veteran, I'm not even sure he's that vulnerable.
The reason is that Davenport is still young and he played much better in the final few weeks of the regular season than he did in the opener or after coming back from injured reserve.
And it's also not like the Dolphins have a ton of established tackles on the roster.
Davenport is going into his fourth season in the NFL, tying him with Jesse Davis for most experience at the position.
So don't dismiss Davenport too quickly.
Instead, we'd offer the following veterans as being the most vulnerable after Ballage:
• CB Cordrea Tankersley — The 2017 third-round pick started 11 games as a rookie, but he hasn't played since October 2018 because of knee issues and the Dolphins have a lot of options at cornerback.
• QB Josh Rosen — The Dolphins aren't likely to just give up on Rosen because of his status as a first-round pick just two years ago, but he's clearly running third at quarterback after the drafting of Tua Tagovailoa.
• Jamal Perry — Yes, he started six games last year and played 54 percent of the defensive snaps, but his advanced stats (98.2 opposing passer rating when targeted) were not good and the Dolphins have 10 cornerbacks on the roster.
