Miami will be without one of their up-and-coming defensive players for their Week 12 matchup with the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, as Brandon Jones will be inactive due to ankle and elbow injuries that limited him in practice throughout the week.
Jones joins cornerback Trill Williams, safety Will Parks, linebacker Darius Hodge, tight end Adam Shaheen, and defensive lineman John Jenkins as players who won’t see the field in the game.
The safety’s injury is a huge hit to a secondary who likely would’ve been putting extra pressure on quarterback Cam Newton frequently in this contest. Now, Jevon Holland will probably be asked to do even more than he already was.
Rookie tight end Hunter Long will be filling in for Shaheen this week and will probably get his biggest workload of the season, as he’s only appeared in three games this year. This will be a great opportunity for Miami to see what they have in him, even if he’s the third tight end.
Another player who has been a healthy scratch for most of the season, cornerback Noah Igbinoghene, is active for this game as well. He may be helping out in some different areas with the Dolphins putting Jamal Perry on injured reserve earlier in the week.
Miami kicks off against Carolina at 1 p.m. on Fox.
