The Miami Dolphins have struggled to stay healthy at the linebacker position for the entire second half of the season.
Before this week, Jaelan Phillips suffered a torn Achilles against the New York Jets, Alexander Johnson suffered a torn Achilles at practice and Bradley Chubb tore his ACL against the Baltimore Ravens.
Then, in the Week 18 battle against the Buffalo Bills, Miami lost Jerome Baker, Andrew Van Ginkel and Cameron Goode.
On Monday, head coach Mike McDaniel revealed that Baker has had wrist surgery already and is done for the year. Goode’s injury, which took place on the punt-return touchdown, is a season-ending patellar tendon tear. Van Ginkel will also miss the restnof the year.
That means, that, on the edge, the Dolphins only have Emmanuel Ogbah as a healthy rusher on the active roster. They do have Melvin Ingram and Quinton Bell, who they can bring up from the practice squad, but they’re extremely thin.
Then, on the interior, Miami has David Long Jr., Duke Riley, Calvin Munson and Channing Tindall. Munson and Tindall have played 12 defensive snaps for the Dolphins each this season.
This is not an ideal situation going against the defending Super Bowl champs on Saturday. They’ll need to do some quick scouting to find bodies to fill out their roster and practice squad, and they should look for someone with experience, especially in Vic Fangio’s system. Even then, it’s tough to find real help at this point in the year. Miami may just be stuck with what they have.