Twenty one. The Miami Dolphins’ offseason roster currently houses twenty one wide receivers and tight ends — a surreal number for a team that needed to revamp their skill positions in the worst possible way. So, in that respect, credit to the Miami Dolphins. They’ve done the same thing they did in 2020 with the offensive line and the trenches  in general: they chose to not address needs but instead to invest in them.

Addressing a need is signing a player and considering your needs met. Like, say for example, signing an over the hill veteran to bolster your offensive line issues over the offseason and calling it a day. That’s the old Miami Dolphins’ way of tackling needs.

This regime? They strike hard, swift and relentlessly.

But now comes the hard part. The Dolphins must now decipher which of their twenty one wide receivers and tight ends they are going to keep for the coming season. Some cuts are obvious. But there are plenty of hard decisions ahead, starting first and foremost with the tight end room.

The Dolphins have eight. And there’s no way they’ll keep close to that number, right? The maximum number of tight ends kept on an active NFL roster at any given point isn’t a search you’ll have much luck researching, but the closest we could find to an outrageous number was when the Green Bay Packers carried five tight ends on their active 53-man roster back in 2011. And in order to compensate, those Packers carried just five wide receivers, too. Miami has the following tight ends on the roster:

  • Mike Gesicki (Established starter, contract year) 
  • Durham Smythe (Contract year)
  • Adam Shaheen (Oct 2020: 2-year extension)
  • Cethan Carter (Signed this offseason)
  • Hunter Long (Drafted in 2021 3rd-round)
  • Carl Tucker (UDFA)
  • Chris Myarick (Practice squad)
  • Jibri Blount (UDFA)

Blount, Myarick and Tucker are obvious practice squad candidates. But, seriously. Who else are you cutting ties with at this point? Potentially Smythe based on talent and versatility, but there plenty of examples of this coaching staff supporting Smythe’s ability to do it all, even if he doesn’t have a trait to hang his hat on. But even if the Dolphins did cut ties with Smythe, they’ll still have four tight ends on the roster and 13 wide receivers to sort through:

  • DeVante Parker (Established starter)
  • Will Fuller V (Signed this offseason)
  • Jaylen Waddle (Drafted in 2021 1st-round)
  • Preston Williams (Past starter)
  • Albert Wilson (Past starter)
  • Lynn Bowden Jr. (Traded for in summer 2020)
  • Mack Hollins (Resigned this offseason)
  • Allen Hurns (Nov. 2019: 2-year extension)
  • Jakeem Grant (All-Pro returner on special teams)
  • Robert Foster (Signed this offseason)
  • Malcolm Perry (Drafted in 2020 7th-round)
  • Kirk Merritt (2020 UDFA)
  • Kai Locksley (2021 UDFA)

If the Dolphins keep 4 tight ends (which feels like an obvious yes and the lowest they’d go), they’ll likely only carry a maximum of 6 wide receivers. How are you whittling down this list to 6? Locksley and Merritt are practice squad candidates and Hurns feels like an obvious adjustment to make based on his recent contributions as an NFL receiver and the other talent available. But the team will still need to clear out four more names, three at the absolute best.

Robert Foster is easily cuttable from a cap perspective and Dolphins fans feel ready to see a transition away from Jakeem Grant. But is No. 3 on the chopping block Malcolm Perry, who showed promise last season? Or is it Albert Wilson, who still has plenty of potential but struggles with durability? Mack Hollins won’t contribute much on offense but his work as a gunner on special teams is highly valuable to Miami, who rode special teams plays to a few key wins last season.

Good luck sorting it all out, Chris Grier. But then again, this is the best kind of mess to have in the NFL: too many options. Just the way this team appears to like it.