Latest on Brewer's Injury, Update on Daniels and Sanders

The Miami Dolphins got a positive injury update ahead of their next game.

Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel said he’s optimistic everyone on the 53-man roster will be available for the game on Sunday against the New York Jets. He mentioned safety Elijah Campbell would be the only player not practicing Friday, but that he could still play Sunday.

Perhaps the biggest update came on center Aaron Brewer, who got an additional designation on the injury report from Thursday.

He was on the injury report early in the week with ankle and neck issues, but a knee issue was added on Thursday, when he went from a full participant in practice to being limited. However, McDaniel doesn’t seem concerned about Miami’s standout center.

“It was a product of going after it in practice,” McDaniel told reporters before practice Friday. “A bump and bruise type situation, something we’re concerned about or anything serious in that way.”

The optimism around Brewer is a big deal because he’s arguably been the team’s most consistent offensive lineman, and his backup is Daniel Brunskill, who the Dolphins like to use in their jumbo formations as a tight end.

Defensive tackle Benito Jones didn’t practice Thursday with an ankle/personal designation, but McDaniel said the defensive tackle is just battling through a minor injury and should be “a little bit healthier” each time he gets back on the field.

We’ll get more clarity on each player’s game status when the final injury report drops Friday afternoon.

Injured Reserve Updates

McDaniel also provided some information on two players who were designated to return from injured reserve this season but have not: kicker Jason Sanders and offensive guard James Daniels.

It doesn’t seem like Sanders’ extended stay on IR is due to his injury getting worse.

“Jason isn’t really surprising me in that he hasn’t had setbacks,” McDaniel said. “We knew we were going to have to be patient. It’s not the idea of ‘is his body not responding?’ He’s capable of kicking footballs through the uprights. Where it’s at [could] risk further injury with the exertion. You don’t want to do that too soon, so we kinda knew it was going to be a case-by-case basis with him.”

Sanders suffered his hip injury while warming up for the team’s final preseason game and was replaced by Riley Patterson, who has performed well this year.

On the other hand, it’s been much harder to replace Daniels at right guard. Cole Strange has played better lately, but it’s been a pressure point for most of the season, and it doesn’t seem like Daniels will be back soon.

“Depending on what month you asked me, I probably would’ve been surprised to know that James isn’t ready at one point, and then at some point, I could kind of see the timeline in terms of it might be a lot longer than we thought,” McDaniel said. “I don’t think it’s a re-injury as much as slowing getting back to the way he needs to be.”

It’s a tough pill to swallow for the Dolphins to lose out on Daniels for this long, but the team’s offensive line is still finding ways to get better.

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