A Tua Tagovailoa practice update, plus fantasy insight into Dolphins’ RB situation
Tua Tagovailoa spent the past two days rehabbing the thumb injury that kept him out of the Week 12 Jets game.
Will that be enough to allow him to practice fully Wednesday — and by extension, put him on track to play Sunday against the Bengals?
Brian Flores wouldn’t say.
“Tua’s been rehabbing, he’s been getting treatment,” Flores said. “He’s working hard to get back in there. We’ll see about today. I wish I had a crystal ball to see he’s going to practice fully. We’ve got to get out there and see. He’s doing everything he can and we’ll evaluate that as we go.”
Tagovailoa is preparing as if he’ll be the Dolphins’ starter this weekend, a source tells the Miami Herald, but of course that depends on the strength and swelling of the thumb he hurt in practice seven days ago.
He was at practice Wednesday, seen warming up with black tape around his left wrist and lower part of his left thumb.
Flores playfully told reporters that he intentionally talks to the team’s medical staff immediately after his daily news conferences — which, probably by design, limits what he’s able to tell the media.
So he didn’t have much of an update on the two rookies who missed Sunday’s game — Salvon Ahmed (shoulder) and Solomon Kindley (foot).
“We hope to get them both out there,” Flores said.
UPDATE: Both were present for the start of practice.
With Ahmed on the mend, the Dolphins could be tempted to bring Myles Gaskin back off injured reserve this week. He practice last week but remained on IR with a knee issue. Gaskin practiced Wednesday with a compression sleeve around his left leg.
Before his injury, Gaskin was the Dolphins’ clear-cut No. 1 running back.
Will that job be waiting for him upon his return?
“I think it would depend on what he shows in practice,” Flores said. “When you’re out a few weeks, there’s a conditioning element, ... a physical element. To think he can walk back in and he’s the same guy, normally it takes a few weeks until hopefully he’s back to where he was. I hope a guy like Myles could get right back to form quickly, but I don’t think there’s any assumptions it’ll be that way. We have a number of backs. We normally rotate them. ... It starts in practice. If we think he can take the majority of carries, maybe that will be the case.”
▪ Flores was asked about the biggest hurdle his team has had to overcome in this pandemic season.
His response?
“These are the cards you’ve been dealt. We’ve got to play this hand. Everyone’s dealing with the pandemic. Everyone is doing things differently than they did a year ago. I think those are the hurdles. ... It’s very different than it was a year ago. As a league, we’re trying to do everything we can to keep the players safe, keep the coaches safe. .... I don’t see them as hurdles. Maybe a little bit of adversity. That’s never hurt anyone.”
This story was originally published December 2, 2020 at 9:14 AM.
