Final Week 17 Injury Report ... And What It Means
For a second consecutive week, the Miami Dolphins have a clean final injury report heading into their game against the Tennessee Titans and the only issues affecting the roster will be COVID-related.
The Dolphins had only three players on the injury report all week and all of them were listed as full participants the three days and given no game status designation, meaning all three will be available against Tennessee.
The three players are G/T Jesse Davis (knee), RB Phillip Lindsay (ankle) and TE Adam Shaheen (knee).
The Dolphins got two players off the COVID-19 list Friday, wide receiver Albert Wilson and guard Solomon Kindley, which left four players from the active roster on the list.
Those four are safety Brandon Jones, defensive lineman Adam Butler, wide receiver Preston Williams and nose tackle John Jenkins, and the Dolphins won't know until Sunday morning whether any of them will be available for the game.
Given their contributions so far in 2021, it's clear Jones and Butler are the two most significant of the four, but head coach Brian Flores made it clear Friday morning they're facing an uphill battle to play, especially considering they didn't practice all week.
"That close to the game, we’ll basically have to see how it goes," Flores said. "But we’ll take it day-to-day with those guys. If it was (Saturday), that would be different but it’s the day after for the earliest after the five-day deal.”
TITANS STATUS
While not quite as fortunate as the Dolphins, the Titans also find themselves in pretty good shape in terms of injuries.
Tennessee gave game status designations to only two players: defensive lineman Larrell Murchison (knee) and outside linebacker Derick Roberson (illness).
Murchison was a full participant in practice Wednesday and Thursday before sitting out Friday; Roberson wasn't even on the injury report until Friday when he did not practice.
Murchison has started four games for Tennessee this season, but he played only nine defensive snaps in two games over the past five weeks. Roberson has appeared in five games as a backup and has 1.5 sacks on the season.
Star wide receiver A.J. Brown was a full participant at practice after sitting out Thursday with a calf injury and he's good to go for the game.
In fact, Murchison and Roberson were the only Tennessee players on the active roster who were not full participants Friday.
In terms of COVID-19 issues, wide receiver Nick Westbrook-Ikhine came off the list Friday, leaving six Tennessee players from its active roster.
The two biggest names currently on the list are wide receiver Julio Jones and linebacker Bud Dupree.
