*** DOLPHINS NEWS ***
Sep 03, 1999: -- Erickson Released --
Jimmy Johnson announced this afternoon that the Dolphins have
released quarterback Craig Erickson, in a move that reduces the roster
to 69 players and solidifies' Damon Huard's status as the backup
quarterback.
JJ further announced that a series of roster cuts would likely
be announced on Saturday to bring the Dolphins down to the 53 man
limit before Sunday's deadline.
This move comes in the wake of the pre-season loss to the
Packers on Thursday night, in which Erickson completed 10 of 17 passes
for 172 yards, including a 56 yarder to Larry Shannon. Erickson did
not throw a touchdown pass, but did have an interception.
That works out to a quarterback rating of 68.8, which is
somewhat better than Huard's rating of 44.0 last night. However,
Huard has looked better overall this summer and Craig Erickson's hefty
salary of about $1,000,000 for this season undoubtedly factored into
the decision.
This leaves the Dolphins with 3 quarterbacks on their roster:
Dan Marino, Damon Huard and Dan Gonzalez. It is possible that the
Dolphins may only keep 2 quarterbacks on the roster for the regular
season this year.
My Comments:
Craig Erickson has been living on borrowed time with the
Dolphins since he was injured last summer. Ever since Damon Huard
came in and beat him out, Erickson has been much too expensive a
player to keep as a third string quarterback.
The question raised by the departure of Erickson is who will
the third string quarterback be? Dan Gonzalez did not play well in
NFL Europe this spring and has looked so poor in training camp that JJ
didn't give him any snaps in pre-season games this summer. I would be
stunned if Gonzalez even made the practice squad.
Well, there is one intriguing possibility - as my buddy Chris
reminded me the other day, Tony Martin is a terrific athlete and
played quarterback in college. In an emergency, Martin could play
quarterback.
Keeping Martin as the emergency quarterback opens up a roster
spot for the Dolphins, allowing JJ to keep just 2 quarterbacks and an
extra running back or defensive lineman.
Also, I think that keeping just 2 quarterbacks says something
about how confident JJ is in his offensive line's ability to keep Dan
Marino healthy.
Or maybe it's just that he knows that if Dan and Damon are
lost, the team is lost, too.
In any case, I'm sure that Craig Erickson won't have any
trouble in finding another job in the NFL. If not right now,
certainly by the end of week 1 there will openings for experienced
quarterbacks.
Related Info:
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Curt Fennell,
curt@phins.com, DOLFAN in New Rochelle (almost)
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