Jordan Phillips ‘making strides,’ but will he play Sunday?

Jordan Phillips’ status for Sunday remains very much in doubt, although Adam Gase said the starting defensive tackle is “making strides.”

Just not enough of them. The Dolphins listed him as doubtful to play Sunday against the Saints, making him a very long shot.

It’s too bad, because after an inconsistent first two seasons, Phillips was playing quite well before injuring his ankle in the season opener. The Dolphins are playing it safe with him. Phillips’ ankle was not wrapped during the team’s very light walk-through here Friday.

“We’re close to where we want to be,” Gase said. “We’ll kinda really talk about that the next two days to see where we’re going to be for Sunday. I want to really be smart about this because we do have to think long term a little bit instead of just thinking about just this one game and then we have a setback. We’ll figure it out here in the next couple days.”

If Phillips does not play, Davon Godchaux would presumably get the start again.

It was tough to determine how hurt Phillips — or any injured Dolphin — was Friday; the Dolphins didn’t even wear a helmet during their practice here.

Kenny Stills has practiced all week with his right wrist wrapped, but Gase said Stills “seems to be good.” Stills is officially questionable to play Sunday.

“We were just being a little precautionary this week,” Gase said. “He played and finished the last game. I know it wasn’t easy for him, but we just thought if we take a few shots at catching balls often enough, that was the main priority, and he did it. He ran a ton of routes and we just didn’t throw any balls at him.”

Backup tackle Eric Smith (knee) has been ruled out for Sunday.

Along with Stills, eight other Dolphins were listed as questionable for the Saints game: running back Jay Ajayi (knee), linebacker Chase Allen (neck), linebacker Kiko Alonso (shoulder), guard Isaac Asiata (ankle), long snapper John Denney (hamstring), wide receiver Jakeem Grant (ankle), linebacker Rey Maualuga (hamstring) and cornerback Alterraun Verner (hamstring).

This story was originally published September 29, 2017 at 9:32 AM with the headline "Jordan Phillips ‘making strides,’ but will he play Sunday?."