Dolphins Camp — Aug 31: McCord In, Ewers Out, a New Room Behind Willis

The Dolphins gutted and rebuilt the quarterback depth chart behind Malik Willis on cutdown weekend. Saturday evening the team announced it had traded Quinn Ewers to the Jacksonville Jaguars pending a physical, with Adam Schefter of ESPN reporting the return as a 2028 sixth-round pick. Sunday it waived Cam Miller and Mark Gronowski, per the transaction wire, and acquired Kyle McCord from the Green Bay Packers for a 2028 sixth-round pick, per Schefter and the team's announcement, again pending a physical. A 2028 sixth came in for Ewers; a 2028 sixth went out for McCord. Jeff Hafley, asked Saturday whether Miami would keep two quarterbacks on the 53, answered "I do," per the team transcript, and two is what they kept: Willis and McCord.

Our last episode's first watch item asked whether a veteran quarterback would be on this roster by cutdown. The answer was no — Miami went younger instead. Brian Miller at Phin Phanatic traced the deal through two connections: general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan's familiarity with Green Bay's operation, and passing-game coach Kevin Patullo's knowledge of McCord from Philadelphia, where he spent most of his 2025 rookie year on the practice squad. Miller also passed along McCord's Green Bay preseason line — 446 yards, four touchdowns, no interceptions, a 102.4 rating. Ryan VanHoover at DolphinsTalk read the whole sequence as Sullivan refusing to stand pat on the backup-quarterback failure the preseason exposed, a contrast he drew with predecessor Chris Grier. Ewers — viewed as a possible long-term answer after a promising 2025 finish, per Miller — struggled through camp and was healthy enough for only the first preseason game.

The rest of the ledger came in two waves. Saturday the team announced 12 waivers, among them linebacker Stephen Dix Jr., the man signed August 21 who played 34 defensive snaps on no practice; his Miami stay ran eight days. Sunday's wire brought 13 more waivers +9 vested-veteran releases, including tackle Charlie Heck, edge rushers David Ojabo and Cameron Goode, receivers Terrace Marshall Jr. and Jalen Reagor, and corner Marco Wilson. The waived column also held running back Jarquez Hunter, acquired from the Rams for Tutu Atwell just Thursday, per Schefter — three days on the roster, per the wire. Cut weekends are full of moves like that, and the trade had already answered the question our last episode carried about Atwell's roster spot. Running back Carlos Washington Jr. went out three days after Hafley praised him — "He's a guy that's kind of just quietly had a good camp. He's explosive. He runs hard," per Alain Poupart at Dolphins On SI.

The cut the beat treated as the shock was linebacker Tyrel Dodson. Oliva called it "the surprise cut" of Miami's cutdown; Brian Miller called it "shocking." Dodson had returned from the injury that knocked him out of the August 20 joint practice to play Friday's finale, posting six tackles and a forced fumble, per Brian Miller — then was released two days later. Miller ties the release to a Jordyn Brooks contract extension, which he reports as done and as what "put Tyrel Dodson in the crosshairs" — no terms or date have been reported, and the extension stands on his byline alone for now. Where Dodson plays next is a question for the coming days.

Defensive lineman Kenneth Grant and rookie edge Trey Moore went to injured reserve Sunday, and corners Darrell Baker Jr. and Storm Duck went to the reserve/physically-unable-to-perform list, all per the team's transaction wire. Hafley was asked Saturday about Grant and injured reserve and confirmed only that "that is one that we've had the conversation about," per the team transcript. Shayne Kubas at Phin Phanatic ran the accounting on what's left: an initial 53 with two quarterbacks, three running backs, seven receivers, and just eight corners and safeties combined — in his judgment a serious vulnerability, on a 53 he read as a total commitment to the youth movement. Tight end Will Kacmarek is week to week and out this week, per Hafley.

The finale, briefly: Falcons 17, Dolphins 12 at Hard Rock Stadium on Friday, per Grace O'Donnell at the team's website, closing an 0-3 preseason. Cam Miller started and Gronowski went 4 of 8 for 97 yards — both waived within two days — and the recap records no Willis snap, resolving our other watch item: he had already banked his exhibition sample. Tua Tagovailoa returned to the building as Atlanta's quarterback, and Kubas wrote that "his performance mirrored his Dolphins tenure: an early touchdown drive followed by a fumble." The performance that matters now: receiver Chris Bell, back from November's torn anterior cruciate ligament, made his NFL debut — two catches on five targets for 22 yards, including an 18-yarder — and made the 53, per Kubas. Marshall led the receivers with 49 yards, per O'Donnell, then was released Sunday.

The bubble stories our last episode tracked mostly landed where the beat pointed. Rookie receiver Kevin Coleman Jr. made the 53, per Kubas, as Oliva expected after the Giants game, and undrafted defensive tackle Keith Cooper Jr. and converted fullback D.J. Herman, both flagged as risers by Poupart on Thursday, made it too. Hafley deferred cut specifics to his general manager, who "will be speaking to you I think within the next few days," and offered his own roster read: "I think we're thin still, and I think we got to develop the depth of the team."

Back in July we previewed Miami's season as an audition — 45 million guaranteed to a quarterback with six career starts, so the franchise could buy information nobody else has — and cut day committed to that premise. No veteran arrived to share the room or the runway; the front office spent the weekend making the sample cleaner instead — one quarterback to evaluate, one young arm behind him, and a first-year general manager who tore out three arms in two days to get there. The audition read holds; Miami just runs it now without an experienced net.

What to watch next: where this week's cut names land once the claims process and the practice squads sort themselves out — a wave still moving as this episode filed, and the next episode's job — plus Sullivan's first cut-day press conference, and whether the eight-defensive-back roster Kubas flagged gets reinforcements before the September 13 opener against the Raiders. We'll check back once the claims and the practice squads are in.

_Data via nflverse._