BY ARMANDO SALGUERO
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asalguero@MiamiHerald.com
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Wilfredo Lee, File / AP Photo
Miami Dolphins quarterback Trent Green looks on during a preseason football game against the Jacksonville Jaguars in this Aug. 11, 2007 file photo at Dolphin Stadium in Miami. In the team's first major player purge since Bill Parcells took charge of Miami's football operations, the team parted ways with Green, wide receiver Marty Booker and seven other players Monday, Feb. 11, 2008 _ ushering in the start of what's expected to be a massive offseason roster shakeup by the rebuilding franchise.
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Before the rebuilding could begin, the wrecking ball had to be brought in to slam the rotting sides off the Dolphins' condemned roster.
And so it was that Monday, slam, Trent Green was cut.
Slam. L.J. Shelton was cut.
Slam. Marty Booker was cut.
Slam. Keith Traylor was cut.
Four starters were cut, along with five more project players who never reached their potential. Nine players total.
And out of the remains of the dusty wreck, the Dolphins now look stronger. They had about $22 million in salary-cap space allocated for the 2008 offseason, and Monday's moves saved approximately $8.5 million to $9 million more in cap space.
So if the math jibes, the Dolphins could be armed with approximately $31 million in cap space when free agency begins Feb. 29.
But don't think of Monday's moves as strictly a means to clear space from the salary cap. They were as much moves to clear clutter from the locker room.
The four former starters who now become free agents were good guys and hard workers. But as quality NFL players, they were most recently just good guys and hard workers.
Traylor, Miami's oldest player at 38, all but retired after the 2006 season until the desperate Dolphins convinced him to play two more seasons. But his failing knees, advancing age and limited practices became liabilities.
Traylor wasn't completely responsible for the fact the Dolphins' defensive line opened like a swinging gate against good rushing teams last season. But he didn't do a whole lot to solve the problem.
Green also wasn't the find to Miami's decade-long quarterback search.
The quarterback the last management regime anointed as a bridge to John Beck collapsed when he was knocked out for the season by a concussion. It was a predictable ending to Green's season because a concussion pretty much derailed his 2006 season.
RAISING FLAGS
And although there are still grumblings that Bill Parcells likes Green enough to ask him to return in 2008, the fact doctors still have not cleared Green to play should raise more flags than the United Nations.
Fans spent much of Monday wondering aloud why the Dolphins would cut Booker without trying to get some value for him in a trade.
Those same fans obviously forgot Booker spent all of the 2007 offseason on the trading block, and nobody took him then.
So how would any team take Booker now that he is one year older, one year slower and one year closer to the end of his career?
Fans should study Booker's final days with the Dolphins. The team believed he was done after 2006 but didn't have the talent on hand to cut ties.
Someday, if the Dolphins' new management trinity of Parcells, Jeff Ireland and Tony Sparano is successful in mending the broken franchise, the Dolphins might be good enough to get rid of players a year early instead of doing it a year too late.
That day has not arrived, although the Dolphins have moved closer to it by getting rid of Shelton. Nick Saban overestimated Shelton's ability to play left tackle and eventually used him at guard. Last year, Shelton was constantly grasping for mediocrity as a right tackle.
But if the Dolphins want to rise from the morass of a 1-15 season, they need more than just mediocrity along the offensive or defensive lines. No NFL team can win unless it stops the run on defense and dominates the line of scrimmage on offense.
Last season, the Dolphins were the worst defense against the run, and their offensive line almost was unique in its inability to protect the quarterback or pave the way for a consistent running game. That is why the Dolphins must address those areas this offseason.
DEFENSIVE LINE HELP
The defensive line help can come in the drafting of either Virginia end Chris Long or Louisiana State tackle Glenn Dorsey. Either would help the situation, but both would require the risky investment of the draft's first overall pick.
That is fine. The problem is large and loud enough to demand a full-throated answer.
As for the offensive line, the Dolphins can fill some of their needs in free agency. No one would argue if they spend some of their newfound salary-cap windfall on Pittsburgh free agent guard Alan Faneca and Dallas free agent left tackle Flozell Adams.
Those moves wouldn't solve all of Miami's troubles. That will take at least two offseasons of inspired work by Parcells, Ireland and Sparano. But it is a start.
Maybe it is a start rooted in Monday's wreckage.
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