Familiar Faces in New Places

It's not uncommon for a player to be let go of one team, and then go on to make impact on another. Through the 1st 5 games of the 10' NFL season, there has been some former Dolphins making noise on their respective teams.

Matt Roth

When the Dolphins switched to the 3-4 defense in 08', it didn't seem like Roth was built to be an effective DE in that system. Then with some creative thinking from the coaching staff, Roth was moved to outside linebacker before the season. He would go on to start 15 of 17 games that season. He accounted for 53 tackles, 5 sacks, 4 pass deflections, and 2 forced fumbles. Needless to say he made a smooth transition to linebacker, and was a run stuffing beast on this defense. Roth entered the 09' off-season with a "groin injury" and it all went downhill from there. He would be released on November 24, 2009, soon to be claimed off waivers by the Cleveland Browns.  Roth played in the remaining 6 games and started in all of them. He accounted for 28 tackles, 4 sacks, and 1 pass deflection. And he kept that momentum rolling into 2010 season. Last week against the Bengals Roth tallied up 5 tackles and 2 sacks. Apparently Roth is a 'mad man' out there.

Anthony Armstrong

When the Dolphins released Armstrong during the 09' preseason, it was just another practice squad body getting cut. I doubt anyone expected him to make another team, let alone make an impact. Well Armstrong was brought in by the  Washington Redskins this off-season, and they saw enough to sign him to the team. He had a big game against the Packers this past week, and now he is becoming a deep threat target for Donovan McNabb. He accounted for 3 catches for 84 yards and 1TD (a 48 yard TD and a heads up play on a tipped ball highlighted his day) against the Packers. With Devin Thomas being released, Armstrong is making his case for the starting lineup. In all fairness to the FO, we still had Ted Ginn on the roster and there is no point in keeping 2 of the same player. Speaking of Ted Ginn...     

Ted Ginn Jr.

Last but not least, the guy everyone loves to hate. After missing the first few games due to a knee injury, Ginn came through on offense and special teams for the 49er's. I'm sure everyone is aware of Ginn's stint in Miami, so I'm not going to beat a dead horse here. Here's an excerpt from an article by Dave Hyde.

The other role he fits perfectly in San Francisco is as the return man. No surprise there. Sunday night, he returned kickoffs 44, 23, 35 and 61 yards. What's more, he wasn't running out of bounds (though he did on the final punt of the game.) All of those kickoff returns were more than the 20th-ranked Dolphins' average of 21.6 yards.

"So another big runback for Ted Ginn,'' Al Michaels said after Ginn's 61-yard return set up a San Francisco touchdown that brought the 49ers back to 27-24.

"There's just no way to defense this kind of speed,'' Cris Collinsworth said.

Not bad for a 5th round pick...