Well here we are just days away from the final cut-down date. And the players on the "bubble" will have one final chance to impress the coaching staff on Thursday night in New Orleans. We'll talk more about that game over the next 2 days. But for now, I present my final 53-man roster in the same form that I have been all month long. Check it out below and then tell us all your thoughts.
**And be sure to get involved with our community projection for Chad Pennington, which will end later today.**
| QB | RB | FB | WR | TE | OL |
| Chad Pennington | Ricky Williams | Boomer Grigsby | Ted Ginn | Anthony Fasano | Jake Long |
| Chad Henne | Ronnie Brown | Derek Hagan | David Martin | Justin Smiley | |
| John Beck | Jalen Parmele | Davone Bess | Sean Ryan | Samson Satele | |
| Josh McCown | Patrick Cobbs | Ernest Wilford | Donald Thomas | ||
| Greg Camarillo | Vernon Carey | ||||
| Ike Ndukwe | |||||
| Trey Darilek | |||||
| Shawn Murphy | |||||
| Matt Spanos | |||||
| DL | LB | CB | S | ST | |
| Vonnie Holliday | Channing Crowder | Will Allen | Yeremiah Bell | Dan Carpenter | |
| Jason Ferguson | Akin Ayodele | Andre Goodman | Jason Allen | Brandon Fields | |
| Kendall Langford | Joey Porter | Michael Lehan | Chris Crocker | John Denney | |
| Phillip Merling | Charlie Anderson | Nate Jones | Keith Davis | ||
| Randy Starks |
Reggie Torbor | Joey Thomas | Renaldo Hill | ||
| Paul Soliai |
Matt Roth |
||||
| Rod Wright |
Quentin Moses |
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Last 5 On: Rod Wright, Quentin Moses, Renaldo Hill, Ernest Wilford, Patrick Cobbs
First 5 Off: Justin Peelle, Rob Ninkovich, Anthony Armstrong, Reagan Mauia, Edmond Miles
Next 5 Off: Lex Hilliard, Titus Brown, Junior Glymph, Jayson Foster, Pedro Sosa
First, let me start by saying that I think that keeping 4 quarterbacks is a luxury that this team - where it is now - can't afford. But I think this staff is going to actually do it - at least until the injury bug his Miami. At that time, it simply won't make much sense for them to do it.
The one big change I made over last week's version is that I have Renaldo Hill now making the team, essentially taking the roster spot vacated by Edmond Miles - who I think is one of the final cuts. I think that the emergence of Matt Roth at linebacker allows this team to keep one less linebacker. And when you run a 3-4, you need more outside linebackers than inside ones - unfortunately for Miles.
I also still have Sean Ryan beating out Justin Peelle for that 3rd TE roster spot. Neither have done enough to set themselves apart and Ryan is a cheaper option - it's that simple. Unless Peelle really stands out in New Orleans, I think his $1.3 million salary in 2008 will cause him to lose his job.
As far as the practice squad goes, it's hard to predict who will be placed there because other teams can step in and scoop up those players placed there. I also think that we're going to see many more moves by this front office in terms of the bottom 10 or 15 players on the 53-man roster as well as the practice squad. But if I had to guess, I'd say these players will initially land on Miami's practice squad: Jayson Foster, Anthony Armstrong, Pedro Sosa, Mike Byrne, Lex Hilliard, Titus Brown, and Will Billingsley.
So let's hear your thoughts below...