The Miami Dolphins have been dealing with some bad injury luck halfway through their 2022 campaign, but the team got some good news on Monday.
First, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported that left guard Liam Eichenberg, who was carted off of the field during Sunday’s victory over the Detroit Lions, suffered an MCL injury. It was originally feared that the injury could’ve been a season-ending injury, but he should be able to return from this.
During his media availability, head coach Mike McDaniel provided an update to the report.
“I can confirm that it was definitely on the positive side of bad news that he got hurt, but it was a pleasant surprise that we were getting various opinions,” McDaniel said. “We know he was going to miss some time, but there wasn’t an injury to all the CL’s, as they call them in the biz as we kind of feared. We’re getting more information. We know he’s going to be out. We just don’t really know how long it’ll be.”
On the right side of the line, Austin Jackson has been held out since Week 1 with an ankle injury that landed him on injured reserve. Jackson has just a few days remaining on his 21-day window to be activated, and if he isn’t he’ll miss the remainder of the year.
However, McDaniel said that he’ll return to practice again this week.
“Some point this week obviously he will return,” McDaniel said. “We’re just going to be taking it day by day and for me, I’m going to be ultra-conservative and see it as very unlikely that I would let him go out there and play this week, but that process of returning will start and we’ll take it day by day with that.”
There’s no guarantee that Jackson gets his job back when he’s healthy. Brandon Shell, who has spent the last few games at right tackle, has looked like a solid veteran in that role.
