Sizing Up Dolphins GM Jon-Eric Sullivan's Post-Cuts Soundbites

After making a flurry of moves over the past few weeks, especially the last three days, Miami Dolphins GM Jon-Eric Sullivan met with the media Monday.

It's an annual exercise where each team's GM goes over the roster heading into the regular season and the moves made to get to this point.

In an interesting and lengthy session, Sullivan touched on a variety of topics and we offer the most interesting comments, along with our interpretation of each topic.

RELEASING TYREL DODSON

What Sullivan said: "He competed, and I think it was a fair competition. Obviously, we have a lot of like for Jacob Rodriguez. That's never been a secret. I thought T-Dot showed up. He was a pro. He competed. It's a very fair question, like why would you move on from T-Dot? But I think it really just highlights how we feel about the young guys on our team. There's so many factors that go into when you're cutting a 53 down, it's layered, both long term, short term. There's financial components. There's all kinds of things that go into the decisions. But we are very appreciative of what T-Dot has done here."

How we see it: Notice how Sullivan mentioned the "financial components" and props to him for doing that. Without question, it looks from here as though money played a part in this decision because even if the Dolphins wanted Rodriguez to start — and that's logical considering he was a high second-round pick — Dodson still would have made for a quality backup if money hadn't been a factor.

THE DECISION TO TRADE QUINN EWERS

What Sullivan said: "At the time, when I when I made the decision, I was set, and again, no different than T-Dot. Wish Quinn the best, and think Quinn has an opportunity to play in this league for a while and do well. I think he needed a fresh start. I think we needed a fresh start. This is a performance-based business, and it was not getting done at the level that it needed to get done at. Quinn knew that. We had a lot of conversations. I think Quinn, if he was standing right here, would tell you that. I just think it was time to kind of move on and get another fresh, fresh start, and us start fresh with somebody else as well."

How we see it: This one is interesting because on the surface it seems awfully quick to suggest Ewers needed a fresh start. He struggled badly over the summer without question, and we can't help but feel the dynamics of the QB room — with Malik Willis basically given the job when he was signed — maybe played a role there in Ewers needing (or wanting) a fresh start.

THE CONCERN OVER SO MUCH ROSTER TURNOVER

What Sullivan said: "I mean, look, this is the National Football League. You hope everybody is professional, but it's always about getting better. If you deem something not good enough, then you have to address it. It's my job to make sure that we are as competitive as we can be in the moment, given the circumstances. And if we sit on our hands so that it's comfortable, then I'm not doing my job as a general manager. You guys understand the circumstances and the things that we had to do. You know, a unique spot. We had to do some things in the spring that are unprecedented, and and so there's cause and effect everything you do. But my job is to make sure that we keep getting better, and I feel like we've we've done the best that we can in the situation we are in."

How we see it: This is Sullivan telling everyone the constant shuffling of the roster exists because the talent level simply isn't good enough and things may get rough before they get better. This is why so many national media analysts are expecting a painful season for a young team that keeps changing personnel.

CLAIMING TE JUSTIN JOLY

What Sullivan said: "Yeah, so we're banged up in that room a little bit, and we had a lot of like for him. Quite frankly, a lot of it was just based on our college evaluation of him, and so we'll bring him in, see how he does and what it looks like, and move down the road with him. But, to be honest with you, that was basically based on the North Carolina State eval."

How we see it: If the Dolphins liked Joly coming into the 2026 draft, this is exactly the kind of move they need to be making — taking shots at young prospects they think or hope can produce at some point. The biggest point here is it's not like the Dolphins had a great tight end room, and the move made to give Joly a shot was waiving/injured Ben Sims. Even if Joly doesn't pan out, this was worth a shot.

TRADING FOR BUT CUTTING JARQUEZ HUNTER

What Sullivan said: "He's a hard-charging, very physical runner that I feel like embodies what we want to be here — the physical run first. You got to build the line of scrimmage, all that stuff. But he gets downhill, gets the tough yards. Wanted to get him here. Wasn't sure how it would work out at the 53 cut if we would carry him through or put him on the practice squad. There's so many moving parts, but definitely wanted him to be in the fold. And so you know, Tutu, loved the guy. Probably was not gonna make it. So it was just an opportunity to to get him back to a spot where he had a better chance and bring in a guy that we add some like for."

How we see it: It worked out for the Dolphins that they were able to sign Hunter to the practice squad after he cleared waivers, but as we said at the time this always was a trade without a down side because (as Sullivan confirmed) Tutu Atwell wasn't making the 53. And Sullivan didn't mention it, but there also was a small financial component that benefited the Dolphins with this trade in turning over the responsibility for Atwell's guaranteed contract to the Rams.

KYLE LOUIS' ROLE AS A ROOKIE

What Sullivan said: "Kyle is a Swiss Army knife, and our expectation for him, I think he'll be a really good special teams player. I'm sure you guys have seen we've had him out there doing some things that he's never done before as a gunner, and he's really good getting off the ball. He runs well. There's some things he's learning coming to balance. I mean, but our expectation is that while Kyle grows as a positional player, which will be kind of that what we call the the Joker, the big nickel, and safety that he will be a difference maker for us on special teams. That's his role early. He's a really good football player, and we expect him to do good things for us."

How we see it: The Dolphins still list Louis as an inside linebacker on the roster, but they might as well change it to safety. Regardless, it always seemed like Louis would be a spot player on defense at the start of his NFL career with the hope that he can become more and more impactful with the passage of time.

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