Will Dolphins be playing critical December games without Terron Armstead?
Terron Armstead is aware that he's never played a full NFL season, always missing a game or five to injuries, and it's one of his many professional regrets.
Armstead, who the Miami Dolphins signed to a five-year, $75 million deal in 2022 that fully guaranteed him $30.1 million, has been completely healthy for all of one game he's played for the Dolphins during his two-year tenure, and that was the very first regular season contest.
From that point on in 2022, the Dolphins offensive lineman played through foot, knee and leg injuries that would have ended many player's seasons, and he played well enough to be named a Pro Bowler based on his performance in the 13 contests he participated in.
Armstead continues to fight through injuries
This season Armstead hoped to shed his fragile label, but a knee procedure forced him to miss most of training camp, and then he suffered a foot injury in a joint practice with the Houston Texans that sidelined him for the season's first month. And upon playing in his second game he got rolled up under in Miami's loss to Buffalo and was sidelined for another four games.
When Armstead returned from his third injury, he was a reliable pillar, the offensive tackle Pro Football Focus rated the best pass-blocking tackle in the NFL heading into last week's win over the New York Jets, but it appears he aggravated a quadriceps injury Friday that could sideline him for a few days, if not weeks.
“He’s going to be pressing me hard to play this week,” coach Mike McDaniel said. “I see it as a week to week injury. We’ve going to have to find a middle ground.”
Lamm's battling his own injuries
If Armstead cannot play, Kendall Lamm would likely start his seventh game at left tackle on Sunday in Washington Commanders. But that's only if Lamm’s back injury, which made him questionable for Sunday's win over the Jets, doesn’t worsen.
"I'm very optimistic because of who he is," McDaniel said when asked about Lamm's status on Monday. "You want to talk about an absolute warrior that has become such a big fixture in our locker room and is so important to us winning and losing football games. He proved it to even be able to be of strong service to us (Friday)."
If Lamm's back issues are an issue Miami would be forced to play Kion Smith at left tackle.
"I think we’ve shown that we’ve been able to operate at a high level with all sorts of various alignments and that’s to the credit of a lot of players and coaches, and the personnel department on top of that. It could shake out a lot of different ways but that’s what the fun of December is right?”
What's Armstead's future in Miami?
Even if Armstead finishes this season on the field, the Dolphins have to be concerned about the future availability of the 32-year-old, who has started 111 of the 115 games he's played since the former Arkansas Pine-Bluff standout become the New Orleans Saints' third-round pick in 2013.
Next season Armstead is guaranteed $8.25 million of his $13.25 million salary, and he has another $1 million tied to per game roster bonuses, which pays him an extra $58,823 for every game he participates in.
If the Dolphins decided to move on from Armstead next offseason, and a trade isn't involved, the team would lose $3.4 million in cap space, which means he's likely in Miami's plans unless he decides to retire, which is unlikely.
That likely means the organization is crossing its fingers and hoping that they can get at least one more productive, Pro Bowl-caliber season out of the forceful, but often fragile offensive tackle.
