Who should get the ax if the Dolphins draft a receiver?

By Adam Sweeney  |   Monday, March 23, 2009  |  Comments( 13 )

Miami Dolphins
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Depending on whom you ask, the Miami Dolphins should choose either Percy Harvin, Hakeem Nicks or Darrius Heyward-Bey with one of their first two picks in April's NFL draft. There is even talk that the Dolphins could choose two wide receivers and hope that one of them stands out in the next few seasons. That would mean a current receiver or two from the present roster would have to go. There are two who stand out as candidates to get dropped like a pass to Jerry Porter, so it's time to check them out.

Looking at the roster, it's obvious Ted Ginn Jr., Greg Camarillo and Davone Bess are safe. After those three, though, it gets tricky. For the sake of keeping readers interested, we will examine the reasons to keep and ditch Ernest Wilford and Brandon London, the two players most likely to be hurt by an addition to the receiver family.

Wilford has been nothing special in his NFL career, more or less the equivalent of a cubic zirconium ring: It looks nice until you really take a look at it. Wilford was picked up last offseason by the Dolphins and failed in every way you can think of. He didn't practice hard, didn't even make the top three spots at receiver and has given us no reason to believe he is going to improve. Catching three passes in seven games is a disaster any way you look at it.

The reason Wilford will likely stay has more to do with the green in your wallet than what he does on the green grass of the field. Wilford cost the Dolphins $6 million with his signing bonus and would be a pretty brutal hit to the salary cap if he's released. There aren't too many teams willing to cut their losses short, so it seems Wilford might get to ride the gravy train with Miami for at least one more year.

That is bad news for a player like London -- who is the opposite of Wilford in terms of what he means to the team. London, who has drawn rave reviews on the practice field, caught four passes for 38 yards against the Baltimore Ravens in the Dolphins' playoff loss. He also is a dedicated special teams contributor, filling in as a return man. Unlike Wilford, London is young and in the good graces of Bill Parcells and Tony Sparano. He is entering his third season, which is known to many as the year that receivers fully realize their potential. Will it be enough to keep London on the team? We're not sure.

In the end, does saving money or building prospects matter more to the Dolphins? The better choice would be to cut Wilford. Sadly for London, though, economics could dictate otherwise.
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About Adam Sweeney

Adam Sweeney spent 4 years as an opinions and arts & entertainment columnist with the Lone Star Lutheran, also working with Sports Illustrated.com. Along with his work on Realfootball 365 he currently is a contributor for Film School Rejects, SLAM Online, Talkhoops.net, and C-Heads Magazine.
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CommentsComments: 13  |  Sign Up  View all comments
No.1
sensi		10:01 AM
03/23/2009
After the Satele trade, I would not be surprise to see them trade Ted Ginn. Parcells likes big WR and Ginn is to soft. Maybe we...
No.2
OutFoxed		11:03 AM
03/23/2009
Couldn't agree with sensi more. Let's rid ourselves of ginn once and for all and get what we can for him. I believe keeping him...
No.3
Fish		11:27 AM
03/23/2009
Don't draft a receiver. Guys that we have are fine for Pennington to utilize - especially after factor in 2 good TE's. Draft...
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