The First Dolphins-Cardinals Injury Report of Week 9 and What It Means

The Miami Dolphins were short-handed at running back during practice Wednesday

Newly acquired running back DeAndre Washington will not be eligible to play for the Dolphins against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday  because of COVID-19 regulations, and he could have come in handy based on the first practice of the week.

Starter Myles Gaskin and backup Matt Breida did not practice, while Patrick Laird was limited.

The absence of Gaskin because of a knee injury was expected given the reports Tuesday that he had sustained a knee injury likely to keep him out about three weeks.

Head coach Brian Flores addressed Gaskin's knee injury Wednesday morning and sounded like it might not be as serious as reported.

"Myles is dinged up a little bit," Flores said. "We’ll see. He’s a tough kid. He’s a competitive kid. We’ll see where this goes here, but we felt like we wanted to add some depth there at the running back position. DeAndre is a good player."

Washington, who was acquired in a trade with the Kansas City Chiefs on Tuesday, will not be allowed into the Dolphins facility until his sixth day of COVID-19 testing, which will be Monday.

As it was, the only running backs who were full participants at practice Wednesday were veteran Jordan Howard, Salvon Ahmed and fullback Chandler Cox.

The only other player on the injury list who was less than a full participant was cornerback Jamal Perry, who missed the game against the Rams on Sunday because of a foot injury. In Perry's absence, rookie first-round pick Noah Igbinoghene worked as the gunner opposite Mack Hollins.

Maybe the most interesting aspect of the injury report was that wide receiver DeVante Parker was NOT on it. Parker was limited for the first two practices of Rams week and played only 29 of 49 offensive snaps in the 28-17 victory compared to 44 snaps for Preston Williams.

The Dolphins had eight players on their injury report listed as full participants.

Arizona, meanwhile, had four players sit out practice Wednesday and two of them were former Dolphins running back Kenyan Drake and former defensive tackle Jordan Phillips.

Head coach Kliff Kingsbury said Wednesday morning that Drake, who has an ankle injury, was day-to-day. Phillips is dealing with a hamstring injury.

If Drake can't play, the Dolphins likely will face Chase Edmonds as the Cardinals' starting running back. The other two Arizona players not practice Wednesday were cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick, who's dealing with a thigh injury, and wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, whose absence was not injury-related.