Injuries are, inevitably, a part of football. That’s just the nature of the beast. This is a high contact sport with massive individuals — inevitably the repeated blows and contact is going to wear players down to some degree. For the Dolphins, the first week of padded practice resulted in two big injuries to their pass rush group. First, the team lost Vince Biegel with a torn Achilles. Then 5th-round rookie Curtis Weaver endured a foot injury that has presumably ended his season.
The Dolphins cut Weaver yesterday and hope to retain him on injured reserve if he clears the waiver wire.
But there have also been other injuries for the Dolphins — presumably minor ones. Linebacker Jerome Baker missed one and a half practice sessions but was back out on the field on Monday. Several Dolphins did not see the end of Monday’s session with injuries of their own, which will need to be monitored closely as Miami looks to walk the line between getting prepared for the upcoming season and staying healthy.
The most open-ended injury sits with linebacker Kyle Van Noy. The versatile defender missed the end of practice after sustaining an unspecified upper body injury. Miami, amid the other losses sustained to the outside linebacker group, can ill afford for Van Noy to be out for any significant amount of time.
Running back Patrick Laird is reported to be day to day after sustaining an upper body injury of his own near the end of practice. Standout rookie cornerback Noah Igbinoghene is another player who did not finish practice on Monday, although he is reportedly fine. Injuries are a normal part of the game and, so long as they’re more casual bumps and bruises and less of the tears and breaks that can end seasons, Miami should be able to take the intermittent practice disruptions in stride and not lose any sleep at night.