Jeff Ireland was busy back making the rounds yesterday and today. The Dolphins have reportedly re-signed defensive end Lionel Dotson and outside linebacker Erik Walden, two players they dismissed on final cut day about a week and a half ago. To make room for Walden, a decent special-teams contributor, they were forced to waive defensive end Clifton Geathers, who was signed off the waiver wire last week. It’s not yet clear who the Dolphins disposed of, or demoted to the practice squad to make room for Lionel Dotson, though. Possibly Walden to the practice squad, but that’s just speculation.
All the shuffling at defensive end has to be derived from Jared Odrick’s deep bone bruise. Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald called Odrick “week to week” today, and ruled him likely out for Sunday’s game against the Vikings. That’s a pretty big blow to this run defense with two of the best rushing offenses in the league on the schedule in the next couple weeks.
Tony McDaniel, who’s flashed some promise from time to time in brief spurts of action, will fill Odrick’s void, but Randy Starks could also spilt some action between nose tackle and defensive end. Paul Soliai would then vacate the opening at nose tackle. Soliai did struggle last season with the starting job after Jason Ferguson went down, but had an impressive enough preseason to earn a smaller role this year.
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