Final Week 16 Injury Report ... And What It Means
While the Miami Dolphins still are dealing with COVID-19 issues, their final injury report ahead of the Week 16 matchup against the New Orleans Saints was as good as it possibly could be.
What it means is that the Dolphins coaches will be faced with some roster decisions at a few positions because of all the players available.
As an indication of just how good things are outside of COVID, not one player got a game status designation on the final injury report, meaning everybody currently on the 53-man roster will be available for the game Monday night.
And there even could be an additional player available if the Dolphins decided to activate running back Malcolm Brown off IR before Monday night.
But the Dolphins already have four running backs ready to go Monday, with Phillip Lindsay ready to join Duke Johnson, Myles Gaskin and Salvon Ahmed after being listed as limited Thursday.
It will be Lindsay's second game with the Dolphins and his first since making his Miami debut against the Carolina Panthers on Nov. 28.
Truth be told, the Dolphins don't have a great need for Brown at this time, so that may play a role in deciding to keep him on IR for another year.
The other player who began the week as a question mark was tight end Adam Shaheen, who has missed the past three games with a knee injury.
Rookie third-round pick Hunter Long played in his absence, but he still should be in the lineup even with Shaheen's expected return because tight end Cethan Carter is among the players on the COVID-19 list.
Carter is one of five players on the COVID-19 list — not counting Lynn Bowden Jr., who's out for the season — along with CB Justin Coleman, OL Greg Mancz, C/G Robert Jones and LB Duke Riley.
SAINTS STATUS
The Dolphins' COVID-19 situation, of course, is nothing compared to that of the Saints, who have 15 players on the list, including quarterbacks Taysom Hill and Trevor Siemian, starting right tackle Ryan Ramczyk, starting linebacker Demario Davis and starting safety Malcolm Jenkins.
The Saints' final injury report did include a positive development, with starting left tackle Terron Armstead listed as questionable Saturday after he was estimated as a limited participant because New Orleans didn't practice on this day.
The Saints have two other players listed as questionable, including defensive end Marcus Davenport, who was listed as limited all week but had a knee injury added to his status Saturday after he was dealing only with a shoulder problem.
Davenport leads the Saints with 6.5 sacks despite playing only eight of the team's first 14 games. This clearly would be a big loss for the New Orleans defense.
The other player listed as questionable is WR Tre'Quan Smith, who was listed as limited all week with a shoulder injury.
