NFL cutdown day was yesterday, and there was a flurry of activity from every team around the league, including the Miami Dolphins. There were some surprising cuts when the 4:00 PM deadline came around, including wide receiver Erik Ezukanma. The Dolphins decided to part ways with the talented, yet oft-injured receiver and take their chances with a thin wide receiver corps.
Perhaps lucky for the Dolphins, however, Ezukanma went unclaimed on waivers, and is now eligible to return to the team on their practice squad, and that’s exactly what the plan is from the team’s point of view, says Miami Dolphins beat writer Joe Schad.
Schad said on X (formerly Twitter) earlier Wednesday that the team does, in fact, plan to bring Ezukanma back on the practice squad to start the season. That move could be particularly important, and Ezukanma could wind up seeing significant action during the season, as the team only has four wide receivers currently on the roster thanks to a rash of injuries at the position.
As it stands today, the Dolphins are going into the season with only Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle, Braxton Berrios, and rookie Malik Washington as their healthy wide receivers. The Dolphins chose to keep as many tight ends on the roster as wide receivers, which may indicate more multiple tight end sets from the offense this season to try and compensate for the lack of healthy wide receivers.
For comparison, the Dolphins have just as many wide receivers starting the season on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list and injured reserve as they do on the active roster, with Odell Beckham Jr., River Cracraft, Tahj Washington, and Anthony Schwartz all slated to miss at least the beginning of the season – if not the season in its entirety.
There’s still plenty of activity that will happen between now and the Dolphins’ first game of the season against the Jacksonville Jaguars. The team may scour the waiver wire, free agency, or the trade markets to ring in another wide receiver, but as of right now it looks like the plan is to go into the season with four, and to have Ezukanma on the practice squad to be called up in an emergency.