Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Tough decision awaits on Allen’s future
Projected starting tight end fighting his way back from knee injury
DAVIE — The projected starting tight end for the Miami Dolphins isn’t guaranteed to make the 53-man regular-season roster.
Even though coach Brian Flores brought Dwayne Allen with him from the New England Patriots, the six-year veteran isn’t a lock to survive Saturday’s NFL cuts — as teams work to trim down their 90-man training roster down to 53 — because he’s barely practiced or played since joining the team.
Allen has played sparingly in the past two preseason games because he’s working his way back from a knee injury that has lingered since the 2018 season.
“No assumptions. We’ll try to keep the most consistent players,” Flores said Sunday, referring to the six tight ends battling for three or four spots on the 53-man roster.
Complicating matters is the fact that Miami’s expected to keep fullback Chandler Cox, a 2019 sixth-round pick, on the 53-man roster. I-formation packages are a staple of Miami’s running game, and those plays won’t work without the former Auburn standout.
But the Dolphins do need to find reliable tight ends that can do in-line work, which was why Allen was signed this offseason.
“I love Dwayne. I do. But Dwayne knows that I’m all about competition,” Flores said. “He’s working really hard to get back. He’s gone out there and played well in spurts. I know he had a couple bad plays the other night, but that’s a good room … there’s a lot of competition in there.”
Allen was signed to a two-year, $6.5 million deal that guaranteed him $1.25 million. However, releasing him would create $2 million in cap space. His 2020 salary would be an opt-in year for the team at $3.25 million because none of it is guaranteed.
Mike Gesicki and Durham Smythe, 2018 draftees who are entering their second season, are viewed as safe to make the roster.
Gesicki, who caught three passes for 59 yards in Miami’s 22-7 win over the Jaguars, is beginning to blossom as a pass catcher. But his limitations as a blocker create a need for an inline specialist like Allen and Smythe.
Smythe has caught one pass for 22 yards during the preseason. He’s started two games working as Miami’s in-line tight end, and is making steady progress.
Nick O’Leary, who is utilized as an H-back, has been the top performer of the group in practices. He’s started two of the three preseason games, and has caught four passes for 43 yards.
Former Hurricanes standout Clive Walford and Chris Myarick, an undrafted rookie from Temple, are also on Miami’s training camp roster, but neither are expected to make it onto the 53-man roster.
Gesicki, Smythe and Myarick are eligible for the practice squad, but to make it onto that team Miami must put them on the waiver wire first, opening the door for another team to claim any of the three.
If waived Allen would become an unrestricted free agent, and it’s possible he could return to New England, which is searching for a tight end to replace Rob Gronkowski, who retired this offseason.