Miami Dolphins 2023 season will be determined by team health
By Brian Miller
There are three reasons that the Miami Dolphins seem to be dealing with so many injuries from year to year.
The Dolphins, again, are not the only team in the NFL that deal with injuries year in and year out but we have to wonder why Miami seems to get hit so hard. While you can’t really account for the freak injuries, you can condition your players to avoid other injuries.
1: Freak accidents
No matter how well you train a player or a team, Achilles, ACL/MCL, and other ligament/tendon injuries are going to happen. While many believe there is a definitive correlation between grass and turf to injuries, the Dolphins play on grass and they don’t suffer many injuries in camp.
2: Trainers
The Dolphins have had the same strength and conditioning coach since 2016 and Dave Puloka has been with the Dolphins since 2008. Troy Maurer, the teams Associate Head Athletic Trainer has been with the team for 28 years according to ProFootballHistory.com.
We can’t be certain that training is part of the problem but if the top two trainers have been around this long, could it be part of the problem? It is something to at least consider. On the other hand, we should also consider that if not for them, there could be more.
3: Chris Grier
On the surface, we wouldn’t assume that Grier is responsible for injuries on the field but he does have a propensity to sign players with significant injury history. If a player has an injury history and can’t stay healthy throughout a season, why continue to sign them and expect them to be any different?
This ties into number 2 because it seems that the players who do have injury problems are not suddenly becoming healthy because the team has top trainers.