Just one day after the Miami Dolphins extended their winning streak to seven games by beating the New Orleans Saints, Brian Flores’ team got some more bad COVID-19 news.
On Tuesday, the Dolphins placed safety Brandon Jones, defensive tackle Adam Butler, defensive tackle John Jenkins, and wide receiver Preston Williams on their reserve/COVID list. They also placed guard Durval Queiroz Neto on the practice squad COVID list to make it 13 players dealing with the virus.
Jones and Butler are concerning losses because they both play a significant role on defense. Both players have been on the field for at least 54% of the defensive snaps this year. There’s time before the game, but if they can’t go we might see Eric Rowe step back up to fill Jones’ spot as he did earlier in the season. Butler’s role could just be filled with a combination of Zach Sieler and Christian Wilkins.
Jenkins has been inactive since Raekwon Davis returned from injury earlier in the season, so if he isn’t able to go it probably wouldn’t be much of an impact. The same could honestly be said about Williams, who has seen his production and playing time drop significantly. It’s tough to miss a player who has just six receptions on the year and hasn’t recorded one since Week 12.
As previously mentioned, there’s plenty of time before the Saturday afternoon deadline, and the league is actually talking about updating their COVID protocol again this week, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, so there’s a chance that these players return before the game.
