Lineman Kraig Urbik waived, given an injury settlement
In two weeks offensive lineman Kraig Urbik went from being viewed as the front-runner to start to getting released by the Miami Dolphins.
Urbik, who missed the past two preseason games because of a right knee injury Dolphins head coach Adam Gase said needed to be surgically repaired, was waived with an injury settlement Saturday evening.
That means Urbik, who has started 63 NFL games, won’t be placed on injured reserve, and can be signed by any team — including the Dolphins — once he’s healthy enough to play again.
Urbik, 31, spent most of training camp as Miami’s top backup at all three interior spots on the offensive line, and handled the bulk of the center snaps while Mike Pouncey recovered from his hip injury.
Pouncey played the first quarter of Thursday night’s loss to Philadelphia Eagles and says he’s ready to resume his role as Miami’s starting center when the regular season begins on Sept. 10 against Tampa Bay.
Urbik, an eight-year veteran, was beginning his second season with the Dolphins. He started six games last year and was slated to earn $1,225,000 in base salary this season.
His release means Anthony Steen or Jesse Davis will likely be called on to replace Ted Larsen as Miami’s starting left guard for at least the first eight games of the season, while Larsen’s torn biceps injury heals. And it improves Jake Brendel, Eric Smith and rookie Isaac Asiata’s chances of making it onto Miami’s 53-man regular-season roster when cuts occur on Sept. 2.
Steen, Davis, Brendel, Smith, Asiata, William Avery and Isame Faciane are all competing for the eight or nine spots reserved for offensive linemen on Miami’s 53-man roster, and the one or two practice squad spots that typically go to offensive linemen.
It is possible that Miami could re-sign Urbik when he is healthy, if he’s still needed at that point.
Cutler-Parker could elevate passing game
Jay Cutler and DeVante Parker are developing a quarterback-wide receiver relationship that could take the Dolphins’ passing game to levels it hasn’t reached in years. That’s evidenced by their 72-yard completion against Philadelphia, 31-yard completion against Baltimore (negated due to a holding penalty), and 30-yard completion in practice during Cutler’s first week on the team.
It seems only a matter of time before the strong-armed Cutler and the immensely talented Parker get their big-play passing game going, the one in which Cutler throws the ball somewhere in the same area code as Parker in 1-on-1 coverage, and the receiver makes a dramatic grab.
“I think if you notice,” Gase said, “it’s usually if a guy is on No. 11 (Parker) he’ll throw it up in the air to let him go get it.”
But both Cutler and Parker have major hurdles to clear before the Dolphins can bank on them being a game-changing duo.
Cutler, signed Aug. 7 after a three-month retirement, must continue to show he can be the same player he was in 2015, when he had 21 touchdowns, 11 interceptions and a career-best 92.3 passer rating in Chicago with Gase as his offensive coordinator.
Parker, the 2015 first-round pick, must continue to show he’ll be a 16-game threat for the first time in his career, not a player who teases and tantalizes but lacks consistency.
Realistically, these concerns might not be eased before midseason.
Until then, the Dolphins can joyfully watch these two perform their aerial ballet and hope it continues.
Cutler remembers when it occurred to him Parker might be a special talent.
“Day One,” he said. “I mean, you watch him run, you watch him move, you watch his ability with the ball in the air and you kind of know what you got pretty quickly with that kind of talent.”
Parker, for now, seems to be the biggest beneficiary of Cutler’s aggressive mindset. That began emerging in that practice in which Cutler threw a back-shoulder pass for Parker deep down the sideline.
Cutler was fairly sharp during the Dolphins’ 38-31 loss to Philadelphia on Thursday, going 5 for 8 for 105 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. He distributed the ball well, too, hitting four receivers among those five completions — tight end Julius Thomas had two receptions and a touchdown, and Parker, wide receivers Jarvis Landry and Kenny Stills had one apiece.
Cutler didn’t limit his deep shots to Parker. He threw a 42-yard pass to Stills, who drew an interference penalty in the end zone, and had a 30-yard incompletion on an attempt to Landry.
Some have theorized Landry’s role could be greatly diminish because of the Cutler-Parker relationship. Landry, a slot receiver in the final year of his contract, is tied with his friend Odell Beckham Jr., of the New York Giants for most receptions since they both entered the league in 2014 with 288.
Cutler maintains he likes all of his receivers.
“They’re really good players,” he said. “They’re going to get open, they’re going to create opportunities for themselves. It’s just kind of my job to get them the ball.”