Dolphins Make Two Moves for Week 1 Game
The Miami Dolphins made two moves Saturday for their season opener against the New England Patriots at Hard Rock Stadium, elevating wide receiver River Cracraft and safety Verone McKinley III from the practice squad.
Per the new rules in place for 2022, teams can elevate a player up to three times in the regular season (with no limit in the postseason), though they no longer can protect players from being poached off the practice squad during the week.
The elevation of McKinley could be seen as an indication that safety Eric Rowe might not be available after being listed as questionable on the final injury report of the week because of a pectoral injury.
As for Cracraft, his addition figures to be more oriented for the special teams considering all five of the wide receivers on the active roster are good to go for the New England game, including Jaylen Waddle, who did not get a game status designation after being slowed by a quad injury for a couple of weeks.
It also should be noted that Cracraft has punt return experience in the NFL, with 12 returns with Denver in 2018 and five more with San Francisco in 2020. Head coach Mike McDaniel said last week he wouldn't hesitate to use one of his front-line players to return punts and Tyreek Hill, Waddle and Jevon Holland are listed as the top three for that role on the depth chart, but he also cautioned against making anything absolute. This is another option he's given himself for the role of punt returner.
Cracraft and McKinley both had their moments in training camp and were given realistic chances of making the 53-man roster — we had projected Cracraft to make the initial 53-man roster as one of six wide receivers, but the Dolphins decided to keep only five players at that position.
The Patriots also announced two practice squad elevations Saturday involving WR Lil'Jordan Humphrey and LB Harvey Langi.
The move with Humphrey is the more noteworthy of the two considering that wide receivers Jakobi Meyers and Ty Montgomery were among the five players the Patriots listed as questionable for the game. This might suggest that one or both of them could be limited for the game or not available at all.
And remember that Meyers is a starter, and his status could affect former Dolphins wide receiver DeVante Parker, who is listed second on the Patriots depth chart.
NO MOVEMENT ON THE DOLPHINS INJURY REPORT
Along with practice squad elevations, teams also announced changes to the injury report on Saturdays, but there was no move there by either the Dolphins or the Patriots.
As a reminder, the Dolphins had five players listed as questionable: Rowe, LB Andrew Van Ginkel (non injury related/illness), RB Salvon Ahmed (heel), TE Tanner Conner (knee) and Raekwon Davis (knee).
The five players listed by New England as questionable: Meyers (knee), T Isaiah Wynn (back), Montgomery (knee), CB Shaun Wade (ankle) and S Joshuah Bledsoe (groin).
