*** DOLPHINS NEWS ***

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Aug 05, 1996: -- Del Rio Waived --

ESPN is reporting this afternoon that Jack Del Rio, the 33 year old linebacker who was signed by the Dolphins as a free agent this spring, was waived by the Dolphins this morning. The reason given by Coach Jimmy Johnson was that rookie linebacker Zach Thomas was making more plays than Del Rio.

Del Rio was initially signed on June 2nd to replace Bryan Cox who left as a free agent to play for the Chicago Bears. Del Rio, who had played for Coach Johnson in Dallas, was considered to be the starting middle linebacker for the Dolphins. However, Del Rio was not in great shape when he reported to the Dolphins training camp in July and has not been terribly impressive in practice thus far.

Thomas, on the other hand, has impressed nearly everyone who has seen him practice so far and has lead the team in tackles both during the Redskins scrimmage and during Saturday's preseason game against the Bucs. He had managed to work his way into the second string middle linebacker's job and now appears to have made it all the way to the starting slot.

Also in the news, CB William Yarborough was waived today.

My Comments:

Wow! And another stunning player development rocks the team....

Well, it certainly seems as if JJ is not afraid to make changes to improve his team and get rid of players he feels won't make an impact. I wonder, however, why he didn't keep Del Rio on in a back up role. Perhaps he wanted to give Jack the chance to sign on with another team.

And Zach Thomas, a player I was uncertain about at first, but grew to like more and more as I learned about him, is now the starting middle linebacker.

Related Info:

ESPNet Sportszone:

Jimmy gives Del Rio the boot

Sportsline USA:

Dolphins waive Veteran LB Jack Del Rio