Miami Dolphins make cap room

Call it Black Monday.

The 1-15 Miami Dolphins cut Trent Green, Marty Booker, LJ Shelton, Keith Traylor and 5 other players yesterday, clearing about $9 million in cap space, giving them an estimated $30 million in space under the cap heading into free agency.

Part of the salary cap space will be going to this year's draft class, but here are some offensive players I could see the Fins being interested in.

Quarterback: Definitely a need position, even if the Fins new brass love John Beck or if they draft Matt Ryan #1. Cleo Lemon is an unrestricted free agent and Trent Green was just cut and his career his probably over due to multiple concussions.

Derek Anderson is intriguing, but he is a restricted free agent, meaning the Browns can tender him and be eligible to match any offer a new team makes, or let him go for the new team's first and third round picks. The new team can negotiate that compensation but that's a lot to give up for a guy with a one year track record, and who may have benefitted from an awesome o-line and great skill players like Braylon Edwards, Kellen Winslow II, Jamal Lewis.

Todd Collins had an inspirational run in the Redskins bid to make the playoffs. He has been a career backup and is 200 years old, but if the Fins want to delay Beck or a new draftee QB for a year, he could be an option.

Rex Grossman: has had his ups and downs in Chicago, but the Bears players and coaches love the guy and gave him every chance to succeed there, and he brought them to the Super Bowl last year. Has a lot of intangibles and arm, but makes a lot of mistakes.

other interesting/recognizable UFA's: Daunte Culpepper (oy), Quinn Gray (Ft Lauderdale native), Josh McCown, Tim Rattay, Billy Volek

Running Back: Fins appear pretty OK at running back, depending on Ronnie Brown's rehab from ACL surgery and if Parcells is interested at keeping Ricky Williams cheap contract around. Jesse Chatman was servicable and he is a restricted free agent. I don't see them throwing a lot of money at RB, but some name players who are UFA include: Michael Bennett, Chris Brown, TJ Duckett, Justin Fargas, Jamal Lewis, Mewelde Moore, Musa Smith, Aaron Stecker, Michael Turner, Derrick Ward.

Wide Receivers: Definitely a need position for the Dolphins. After cutting Booker, your starting WRs are Ted Ginn (and his family) and Derek Hagan. Lot if interesting UFAs at WR, including Bernard Berrian, Drew Carter, Andre Davis, Jabar Gaffney, DJ Hackett, Bryant Johnson, Randy Moss & Ernest Wilford.


O-Line: Always tough for me to judge free agent non-skill positions, especially anonymous guys who might be 2nd stringers or who play for lesser televised teams. The Fins definitely will be looking to upgrade here. Some familiar names on the O-Line include guards: Martin Bibla (ex-Cane), Jason Fabini, Alan Faneca, Rex Hadnot, Ryan Lilja, Floyd Womack. Tackles: Flozell Adams, Jordan Gross, Max Starks.