Dolphins roster cuts could include Pat Devlin?

The Miami Dolphins currently have four quarterbacks on the roster, with starter Ryan Tannehill, backup Matt Moore, third stringer Pat Devlin, and training camp arm Aaron Corp all having a spot on the 90-man roster for the team. All offseason, it has been known that the team would head into the 2013 season with Tannehill, Moore, and Devlin, giving the team the young, franchise quarterback as the starter, a veteran backup, and the developmental player. During his appearance with the press today, Head Coach Joe Philbin said some things that could change that.

"I've been on both sides of it, it's something that we'll have to consider." Philbin said of keeping either two or three quarterbacks on a roster. "Hopefully we have a lot of tough decisions to make before we finalize the roster. Certainly there are teams in the National Football League that only carry 2, there are some that carry 3. That will be one of those decisions that we'll have to address and we're going to have to consider a lot of different factors."

Devlin is entering his third year with the Dolphins, after spending most of his rookie year on the practice squad, then being promoted to the 53-man roster in 2012. He picked up the reputation of being Philbin's pet project last year, thanks to the Dolphins' appearance on the HBO and NFL Films show Hard Knocks.

"He's doing well," Philbin explained yesterday when asked specifically about Devlin. "The thing that you like about Pat is that he has a very good command of the system and he plays fast. He's performed well in the games that he's played, so hopefully we'll give him some more opportunities."

When asked if Devlin had improved any from last season, the coach added, "Absolutely, definitely."

Could Devlin actually be in risk of missing the roster when final cuts are made? Or is Philbin, who is becoming a Bill Belichick-like master of speaking to the press and saying nothing, just refusing to give any sort of clue to how the Dolphins will build their roster?

Carrying just two quarterbacks could make a lot of sense for a Miami team with a ton of depth at a lot of positions. But, Moore is most likely going to be cut after this season, rather than have the $5.5 million salary cap number he will incur next season, and the Dolphins have already put two years of work into Devlin, preparing him to be the backup quarterback.

This is likely Philbin just not giving anything to the press, but it is interesting that the team could be considering not keeping Devlin.

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