A groin injury sustained by running back Arian Foster could have the Miami Dolphins looking for a replacement for this Sunday's home opener against the Cleveland Browns.
Foster left the Dolphins' loss to the New England Patriots after 10 plays. He underwent an MRI on Monday and will be evaluated on a daily basis.
"He's going to be day-to-day right now," Dolphins coach Adam Gase said Monday. "At least that looks good for us. We'll see how he does this week. We haven't really made any decisions on whether or not we're going to try to get him out at practice on Wednesday. I think we're just going to get through [Monday], see where he is at [Tuesday] and then when we get to Wednesday, just kind of evaluate what's best for us to do with him right now."
Foster carried the ball 3 times for nine yards against the Patriots before exiting. He has dealt with groin issues throughout his career. If he is unable to play, the Dolphins will turn to rookie Kenyan Drake and Jay Ajayi. Gase said he is keeping his options open on determining a replacement if needed.
"The good thing is all of those guys have really stuck with it," Gase said. "They've practiced hard. They've been engaged as far as in meetings, at least the guys that have been inactive. That's why Jay was able to step in there and do that the other night because he stayed engaged in the meetings, he didn't get a ton of reps [and] he was really involved in special teams as far as the meetings went. If he doesn't do that, then we probably would have been in a little trouble yesterday. But he was able to at least do a great job, as far as knowing who he had to get, and some of the protections were a little bit different with what we dealt with yesterday. For a guy that didn't get many reps in the walkthroughs and the protections, he did a really good job."
In Sunday's loss to the Patriots Ajayi and Drake combined for 26 yards on seven carries. Drake scored his first career touchdown _ a seven-yarder _ that pulled the Dolphins to within seven points in the fourth quarter.
"It was pretty exhilarating," said Drake, who keeps the ball he scored with in his locker. ... I had to push my way the last three yards to get in the end zone. It was great."
Gase said he is confident either player can handle the running load. Ajayi could find himself in a starting role just two weeks after not traveling with the team for the season opener against the Seattle Seahawks. He was left behind after Gase was unhappy about his attitude following not being named the starter.
The Dolphins have adopted the "next man up" philosophy.
"That's always the mindset in the NFL," tight end Jordan Cameron said. "You're going to get hurt playing this game. Those guys behind him did a good job."
The biggest issue for Drake, the team's 2016 third-round pick, is continuing to learn the playbook. At times, he struggled against the Patriots' various defensive formations.
"It's the first time you're really seeing it live," Gase said. "When he played in that fourth preseason game, [the Titans] were very vanilla. That was probably an unrealistic look of how an NFL game goes. When you walk out there versus New England, it's a different front every time; it's a different coverage, it's a different pressure, so I mean, you have to be on it."
