The NFL is continuing on its way to the playoffs, and suddenly, the Miami Dolphins are back in the hunt despite their abysmal start. With the bye week now here, some needs must be addressed.
In Madrid, the Dolphins lost promising youngster JuJu Brents for the season with an ankle injury. That leaves yet another hole on a unit that simply can't afford to lose any more players. General Manager Champ Kelly wasted little time dipping into the Rams' roster.
Kelly poached A.J. Green off the Rams practice squad to help fill the hole left by Brents. A five-year NFL veteran, Green is now looking like someone who will get playing time rather than just riding the practice squad all year.
Dolphins biggest need during the bye week is finding cornerback depth
Green has appeared in just 36 games over his career with two starts. He will be a depth addition at this point. Miami needs to do more, and this should be a priority for Kelly.
Miami has only six corners on the active roster, one of whom is now Green. Rasul Douglas has missed the last two weeks injured, and Jason Marshall is a rookie playing on the boundary. The best CB Miami has is Jack Jones.
To drive this home a bit further, Miami has five corners listed on IR, including three who have started games. They have only three on their practice squad. Kelly doesn't have many options either. The free agent pool isn't impressive.
His best option is to continue taking players from other teams' practice squads. At this point, he has little choice but to keep fishing for help. This is a problem that will need to be fixed this offseason, whether Kelly sticks around or not.
Chris Grier felt Miami could handle the lack of experience in the secondary with better upfront play. That didn't happen, and Grier didn't have the foresight to plan for injuries. It now falls on Kelly (and maybe the team's next GM) to fix his mistake.