The Dolphins lost Bradley Chubb for the rest of the season when he tore his ACL on Sunday, they don’t have great concern about quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s shoulder and cornerback Xavien Howard falls somewhere in the middle of those two outlooks.
Howard left Sunday’s loss to the Ravens early in the first quarter with a foot injury and head coach Mike McDaniel said on Monday that he’s “not planning” to have the cornerback for their AFC East title game against the Bills in Week 18. McDaniel didn’t say anything about the first weekend of the playoffs, but it certainly sounds like Howard could be in play for that game.
“The good news on ‘X’ is that it doesn’t look like it will require surgery, what we found out today,” McDaniel said, via a transcript from the team. “So that was good, and because of that, it’s kind of a week-to-week measure. We have to see how he responds. Feet at that position are just tricky. Each person’s different so we’ll take that with due diligence and press and assess.”
The Dolphins will be in the playoffs regardless of the result of their game against the Bills, but they’ll get a home game with a win and that’s reason enough for everyone able to play to be on the field for Week 18.
