The Five Biggest Dolphins Stories of Week 9

The Miami Dolphins had a busy week between making a couple of moves at the NFL trading deadline, having their first bouts with COVID-19 since training camp, and some significant players returning to practice.

And, as always, there was some news involving rookie first-round pick Tua Tagovailoa.

Here then are the five biggest stories of the week:

1. COVID-19 Hits the Dolphins

In this most unusual year, COVID-19 always takes center stage because it's got the potential of bringing everything to a halt — and that includes the NFL season. The Dolphins had been able to avoid a positive test since the start of the regular season, but then revealed Friday morning that an assistant coach had tested positive and later in the day placed rookie wide receiver Lynn Bowden Jr. on the Reserve/COVI9-19 list. The hope obviously is that this was a one-time story for the Dolphins.

2. Jackson Comes Back

When rookie tackle Austin Jackson was placed on injured reserve, head coach Brian Flores declined to place a timetable on exactly how long the first-round pick would be out. His absence turned out to be the minimum number of games he had to miss. Jackson missed three games — interestingly three Dolphins victories — before he was activated off injured reserve Saturday. The question now is what the offensive line will look like against Arizona on Sunday. Practice squad wide receiver Antonio Callaway also returned to practice this week after his NFL suspension for violating the league's substance-abuse policy, though the former Cleveland Browns fourth-round pick was not activated to the 53-man roster.

3. Trade Time

The NFL trading deadline was kind of a dud around the league, but the Dolphins were active as they made two transactions. In reality, though, there was no overly significant about the Dolphins trades — sending wide receiver Isaiah Ford to the New England Patriots for a conditional 2022 sixth-round pick and acquiring running back DeAndre Washington, along with a conditional seventh-round pick, from Kansas City for a conditional sixth-round selection. Because of COVID-19 protocols, Washington couldn't enter the Dolphins facility until his sixth day of testing and that meant he would be unavailable for the game against Arizona.

4. Gaskin Goes on IR

Two days after the victory against the Los Angeles Rams, news came out that running back Myles Gaskin had sustained a knee injury that would sideline him for about three weeks and two days after that it became official when the Dolphins placed him on injured reserve. To understand the significance of this development, realize that through Week 8 Gaskin had the fifth-highest percentage of his team's offensive touches (carries and receptions) in the NFL — trailing only Derrick Henry of the Tennessee Titans, Josh Jacobs of the Las Vegas Raiders, Dalvin Cook of the Minnesota Vikings and James Robinson of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

5. Flores Addresses Tua Talk

This wasn't necessarily a story that will have any effect on the Dolphins' performance on the field, but it was significant nonetheless when head coach Brian Flores paused from answering a question about quarterback size to address the ESPN story regarding Tua Tagovailoa. Flores took exception to the report, which suggested that one of the reasons for the quarterback switch from Ryan Fitzpatrick to Tagovailoa was to get a 10-game evaluation to determine whether the team needed to address the quarterback position in the 2021 NFL draft with the first-round pick the Dolphins will get from Houston that looks like he could be in the top five. Flores showed disdain for the report, which had cited league sources, and stressed the Dolphins were interested in developing Tua, not having an audition.