The latest on Dolphins’ Fuller, Jones after both went down with injuries vs. Colts
Will Fuller and Byron Jones both left the Miami Dolphins’ 27-17 loss to the Indianapolis Colts with injuries in the second quarter, and did not return Sunday.
Fuller went down with a hand injury early in the second, while Jones injured his hamstring on one of the final plays of the quarter and did not play in the second half.
Both will undergo testing, Brian Flores said, and the coach expected to know more about their statuses Monday.
“We’ll run some tests,” he said.
Fuller exited shortly after trying to make a diving catch early in the second quarter. On third-and-6 at the Colts’ 46-yard line, Fuller ran a curl along the right sideline and Jacoby Brissett tried to find him right by the first-down marker. The quarterback, however, underthrew Fuller and the wide receiver dove back to try to make the play with 8:08 left in the half.
Soon after, Fuller headed into the tunnel at Hard Rock Stadium and did not return. He had one catch for 6 yards in his second game as a Dolphin. Miami quickly announced he was questionable to return and formally ruled him out early in the third quarter.
Fuller was a major offseason acquisition for the Dolphins, who signed him to a fully guaranteed one-year, $10 million deal in March. It was a relative bargain for Fuller, who averaged 60.9 receiving yards per game in five years with the Houston Texans, but missed 27 games due to injury and got suspended for six games last year. He said in March he wanted to sign a one-year deal “to prove my worth in the league.”
He already missed two games this year, albeit not for injury reasons. In Week 1, he served the final game of his suspension. In Week 2, he missed another game for personal reasons. He mad his Miami debut last week and caught three passes for 20 yards with a two-point conversion in the Dolphins’ overtime loss to the Las Vegas Raiders.
“We’ll probably have more information tomorrow,” Flores said, “but significant enough that he was out today. We’ll run some tests. We ran some tests. We’ll run some more tests and have a better understanding of what happened there.”
Miami never formally ruled out Jones on Sunday and he stood on the Dolphins’ sideline throughout the second half, often riding a stationary back or running in short distances to try to loosen up the hamstring. It’s not clear when he hurt the muscle, although he did collide with safety Jevon Holland while they broke up a pass late in the second quarter in Miami Gardens.
Jones had one tackle and one pass break-up Sunday. The defensive back has 12 tackles, five passes defended and a forced fumble so far this season.
“He was trying to get back out there,” Flores said. “I saw him running around a little bit. He just didn’t feel like he could go handle a nine ball, handle the things he’s got to handle at that position.”
This story was originally published October 3, 2021 at 2:51 PM.
