Don't count on either Spears or Carpenter hitting the waiver wire. Dallas refused to toss Carpenter into that trade for Anthony Fasano. They're trying desperately to find a way for him to make an impact in the defense, moving him around and rearranging things a bit. And Spears is still a starter and I don't know they have someone to take his place as a starter. It would make zero sense to just cut those guys. Jerry Jones sometimes doesn't do the smartest thing, but he rarely does something flat out stupid, either. I agree with the premise here. Miami will be paying close attention to who Dallas cuts and they will use their #1 waiver priority to pick up some of those players. But, I just don't think Spears or Carpenter are part of that equation AT ALL.
If I had to say which guys might be cut in Dallas and picked up in Miami, I would say FinAtic8480 has a good one in Remi Ayodele. It's at the very least plausible.
I would mostly look for the WRs, CBs and the OLs. Those were areas where we seemed to neglect the depth a bit in our off season plans...and it could be they're counting on the Cowboys to release a player or two they want to keep on our roster.
A couple of corners are possible. CB Alan Ball was picked in the 7th round a year ago and now the Cowboys have picked up Mike Jenkins and Orlando Scandrick this year, so they could cut him. They could also cut CB Quincy Butler. I actually liked Quincy Butler in that draft more than Alan Ball, but he went undrafted. Judging from the way he took to Michael Lehan, our DBs coach Todd Bowles seems to be big on guys he has coached before. Dallas has Terrance Newman, Anthony Henry, Mike Jenkins, Orlando Scandrick, Evan Oglesby, Allan Ball, Quincy Butler, Justin Phinisee and Jerron Wishom on roster at CB. Of course, they also have Pacman Jones dangling on a string trying to convince the Commish to let him back in. I'm not sure he'll succeed though. Still, even without him that's a little too deep. They will probably only want to keep 5 of those guys, maximum...and I think Newman, Henry, Jenkins and Scandrick are 100% safe to make the roster. Oglesby is the most experienced guy and I'd handicap him the favorite to claim the 5th spot. That should make guys like Butler and Ball big waiver claim possibilities.
At CB, Miami has Will Allen and Michael Lehan, both are safe. Then they have Travis Daniels, Andre Goodman, Nate Jones, and Joey Thomas. Why should any of those guys be considered safe? They have to find three more CBs from among that group as well as the waiver wires. That's why Ball and Butler should be considered big possibilities.
Three names to keep in mind for the OL are Joe Berger, Cory Proctor and Pat McQuistan. I'm like 90% sure the Dolphins would pick up Joe Berger if he became free. It's hard to gauge which guy will be free. The Cowboys have their starting 5 OLs in tact with Flozell Adams, Kyle Kosier, Andre Gurode, Leonard Davis and Marc Colombo. They also have Doug Free, whom they are very high on, and James Marten...also very high on him. That's 7 players, where a lot of OLs will only keep 8 guys. So you try and figure who that 8th guy will be. Miami tried to get Cory Procter last year under Cameron and I believe Dallas beat us to it. I think Miami would love it if Dallas released Joe Berger. Hard to tell how high they'd be on Pat McQuistan. Berger is probably the most likely one to make Dallas' roster as the 8th guy, because he can play Guard or Tackle. But, they would leave them with no backup C so I could see them justifying Procter over Berger. Gurode's weakness in snapping the ball has to be accounted for, as well. If one of the Guards were to get injured there would be some serious thought to shifting Gurode out to Guard and having a guy that is better at snapping the ball take over the Center spot. That could work in Procter's favor.
The thing about the OL from Miami's perspective is yeah we did a lot of revamping of the starters but we also did a lot with the depth. We cut a ton of guys and the people we replaced them with, I don't know if they're up to snuff. We have about 7 guys overall that are relatively safe. Jake Long, Justin Smiley, Samson Satele, Shawn Murphy, Vernon Carey, Donald Thomas and probably Steve McKinney. But, what about that 8th spot? Where's the backup OT in this group? I don't see Murphy playing OT, or Thomas. I don't see McKinney playing there, either. Julius Wilson? Trey Darilek? Ikechuku Ndukwe? Dan Gore? I'm really not seeing it. This leads me to believe Miami are sure that a T will be made available off waivers, and two of the guys they're thinking about in that regard could be Pat McQuistan and Joe Berger.
Aside from them, the other position I'd keep an eye on is the Cowboys' WRs unit. The problem is that the Cowboys really didn't do much with the WR position in the draft or free agency, so that makes this position hard to predict how it will shake out. The guys that end up kept on the roster, likely earned it...and the guys that didn't stay on roster, likely earned their pink slip. They have Terrell Owens, Patrick Crayton, Terry Glenn, Sam Hurd, Isaiah Stanback, Miles Austin and Mike Jefferson. Most teams look at keeping five guys.
I'm assuming Mike Jefferson will be cut. I just don't necessarily assume Miami will have interest in him. The question is, if they're keeping five guys, which guy gets cut right along side Jefferson?
Jeff Ireland is infinitely high on Isaiah Stanback, he gushed about him last year. He really believes he could end up a steal and I'm not sure if the Cowboys share his zeal about the QB convert. They picked him in the 4th round though, so they're not likely to just ditch on him easily.
I don't believe Dallas would cut Sam Hurd. He was too good as Patrick Crayton's replacement whenever Crayton would get dinged up. That was one of those impressive things about the Dallas offense in 2007. Terry Glenn was originally supposed to pair with Terrell Owens, and when Glenn got out of the picture all the sudden it was Crayton, and sure enough he catches 700 yards and 7 TDs. But also, when Crayton would go down, Hurd would step right in and replace him. He caught 315 yards at a 16.5 yard average.
Miles Austin presents value as a Kick Returner, and in 2007 he started to make some plays as a receiver. He could be on the rise, and he was definitely a guy that I really liked coming out of the 2006 draft. All except for the 40 time, his Combine scores were through the roof. Small school guy out of Monmouth. At 6'2" and 215 he had a 40.5 inch vertical, 10'3" broad jump, 4.14 shuttle, 7.09 cone, 1.56/2.64/4.47 in the 10/20/40. Super productive at Monmouth, and he's already proved he can play in the NFL averaging 25.8 yards per kick return in 2006 & 2007 regular seasons combined, but also averaged 33.8 yards on 6 kickoff returns in two playoff games, including one touchdown in the 2006 playoffs against the Seahawks. He started to see some action as a WR in the second half of 2007, catching 5 balls for 76 yards. This could very well be the guy that gets put on waivers if they feel that Stanback can begin to return kicks in his place.
But, at the same time...don't discount the possibility that they cut ties with Terry Glenn before they ditch on someone like Austin. Glenn still has the injury overhangs and they seemed to roll on in 2007 fine without him. He's an older guy making a bigger salary, not exactly a locker room leader, and if they're not sure he can stay healthy then Dallas may feel they want to keep guys like Stanback, Hurd and Austin all on the roster rather than lose one of the younger up and comers in favor of Glenn. It is definitely possible, and if Glenn is healthy and they cut him anyway, Miami could definitely come calling.
Is there room on our roster for Austin or Glenn? I'd say so. Derek Hagan, as an underachiever, could be cut tomorrow and nobody should be surprised. I personally think he'll do better this year but he could still get cut. Greg Camarillo? Hero for a day, cut tomorrow. The only safe guys, really, are Wilford and Ginn. Hell, the next safest player might be UDFA Davone Bess! He's the guy that best fits the slot role. Tab Perry, David Kircus, Greg Camarillo, Derek Hagan...any of these guys could be cut in favor of Miles Austin or Terry Glenn.
