The Final Dolphins-Broncos Injury Report And What It Means
The Miami Dolphins will have running back Matt Breida back in the lineup when they face the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High on Sunday. In fact, they might have every player on their active roster available.
The Dolphins did not rule out any players on their final injury report of the week, listing only linebacker Kyle Van Noy (hip) and guard Solomon Kindley (foot) as questionable.
Kindley has started all nine games as a rookie fourth-round pick out of Georgia, but the Dolphins have six offensive linemen who have started games this season, so they easily can adjust if he can't play.
As they did for the final two-third of the game at Arizona on Nov. 8, the Dolphins could go with a starting lineup featuring Jesse Davis at right guard and Robert Hunt at right tackle.
And it's certainly not like the Dolphins offense struggled with that offensive line set up; on the contrary, the Dolphins had its best performance in that game with Tua Tagovailoa as the starting quarterback.
If Kindley is healthy enough to play, then the Dolphins could go back to their original starting offensive line of 2020, with Kindley at right guard and Davis at right tackle.
Replacing Van Noy is a little more complicated because he plays many different roles for the Dolphins defense, but Miami has to do it already once this season — against the Jets when the Dolphins pitched a 24-0 shutout.
Breida being back gives the Dolphins more options at running back, though it would be surprising if Salvon Ahmed didn't get a second consecutive start and the bulk of the carries after his impressive performance against the Chargers.
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As we expected all along, Tua Tagovailoa did not get a game status designation despite being on the injury report all week with a foot injury, which means he'll be starting his fourth NFL game. Tagovailoa was a full participant in practice all week.
From the Denver standpoint, the focus all week has been on quarterback Drew Lock, who was listed Friday as questionable after practicing the past two days on a limited basis.
At this point, it certainly does appear as though Lock will play despite the rib injury he sustained against the Raiders last week.
The Broncos ruled out one player Friday: linebacker Joe Jones, who has a calf injury.
Among the six players listed as questionable, perhaps the most important is tight end Noah Fant, who also has a rib injury. Fant has started seven games and leads the Broncos in receptions with 35.
Also listed as questionable for Denver were CB Bryce Callahan (illness), G Graham Glasgow (calf), T Jake Rodgers (shoulder) and DL DeShawn Williams (ankle).
