The Miami Dolphins woke up Monday morning with an open spot on their 53-man roster, and it seems pretty safe to assume it will go to wide receiver River Cracraft.

But with other players on the mend and soon set to return, decisions will become more complicated when it comes to roster management because, obviously, every player returning to the 53-man roster requires an opening.

Even though some decisions will be made for the Dolphins due to subsequent injuries, the team still appears to have some tough decisions to make sooner rather than later.

Five positions come to mind.

The Dolphins currently have two quarterbacks on the 53-man roster with Tua Tagovailoa and Skylar Thompson and no one at that position on the practice squad, but Tyler “Snoop” Huntley is two weeks away from being able to return from injured reserve .

Based on comments made by head coach Mike McDaniel and QB coach Darrell Bevell last week, it appears that carrying three quarterbacks to the 53 once Huntley returns is a definite possibility.

And that’s not even addressing the question of who would be No. 2 after Huntley started the last three games that Tagovailoa missed due to going on IR.

“It’s something we just let these guys come in and compete for,” Bevell said. “That’s not the case right now. So right now, Skylar is number two. But when Snoop comes back, that’s a decision we’ll make at that time.”

If the Dolphins decide to go with two QBs, then it’s likely that whoever gets cuts will be re-signed to the practice squad once that player clears waivers – we don’t anticipate Thompson or Huntley being claimed waivers, especially at this stage of the season.

The (expected) addition of Cracraft will give the Dolphins six wide receivers out of 53, and that’s two more than they had at the start of the season when they simply cut someone from the team practice for every game while Odell Beckham Jr. sat out. PUP is recovering from his knee problem.

Do the Dolphins really need six wide receivers on the 53?

The last addition to the group before Cracraft was Dee Eskridge, who missed practice Friday and Saturday due to a personal issue, did not travel to Los Angeles with his teammates but will be available for the game against the Los Angeles Rams on Monday night.

Eskridge, however, is now the primary kickoff returner with Braxton Berrios lost for the season with a knee injury.

If the Dolphins decide that six is ​​too many, then the only two logical options to release at that point would be Eskridge or even Beckham, if the team decides he doesn’t play enough of a role to keep him — and before sending it back. this idea because of his credentials, remember he played 11 offensive snaps in three of his four games and 12 in the other.

The Dolphins clearly like sixth-round pick Patrick McMorris, which is why they made sure to keep him on the original 53 before putting him on IR at the start of the season.

And now his practice window opened last week.

“There are few recruits who can transition very quickly,” McDaniel said. “We think he’s done a really good job of learning the responsibilities and really improving throughout training camp. So he stood out in that way, and I think that’s down to the times because of his abilities and his professionalism I think it might be soon this week, but I can’t wait for him to get up and be a part of what we’re doing because he’s doing the right thing. and that he has talent to bring.

The Dolphins, however, already have four safeties on the 53-man roster with Jevon Holland, Jordan Poyer, Marcus Maye and Elijah Campbell and 11 defensive backs overall.

Making those numbers five and 12 would mean a sacrifice at another spot, and logic would dictate that another DB would be cut to make room for McMorris, who should be ready by the next game against the Las Vegas Raiders at course of week 11.

The Dolphins like Blake Ferguson enough to sign him to a contract extension last year, and McDaniel and special teams coordinator Danny Crossman spoke glowingly about him last week, making it almost seem like he’d be back on the 53 once he misses one more game on the reserve/non-football illness list.

“The details, if it’s next week or the week after that or the week after that, we’ll let time tell, but I love Blake,” McDaniel said Saturday. “When he’s ready you’ll see it because the team is better when he’s running it.

Crossman added last week that he doesn’t want to find himself in a situation where the team simply signs a long snapper to the practice squad every three weeks while using up that player’s three max elevations.

The Dolphins, however, will need to find someone at another position on the 53-man roster once they activate Ferguson, as they don’t have a long snapper on the roster at the moment.

This isn’t as definitive as the other four spots we mentioned due to Bradley Chubb’s still-uncertain status.

The two-time Pro Bowl selection continues to return from his Week 17 ACL injury and McDaniel continues to provide positive results on a regular basis, but the reality is that we simply don’t know when Chubb might be back – or although it will return any time in 2024.

If he returns, the Dolphins would then have six edge defenders, with Chubb joining Emmanuel Ogbah, Chop Robinson, Mohamed Kamara, Tyus Bowser and Quinton Bell. Six edge defenders is an extremely high number on a 53-man roster, but it would be a tricky decision – like any other.