Lost in the Ryan Tannehill injury and Jay Cutler flirtation in Miami is the fact that the Dolphins have lost another starting player on offense this week, when left guard Ted Larsen suffered a biceps injury. Many have assumed he’ll be out for the entire season. He may not be.
“I think there’s a really high probability that he’ll play this year,” coach Adam Gase told reporters on Saturday regarding Larsen. “Normally it would’ve been an injury where he’d be done for the year, but with the way the rules are built, we should have a chance to get him back. It was disappointing because he was probably our most consistent guy day in and day out. I hate to see that for him because he’s worked so hard to understand what we’re doing. He’s brought a great attitude. He’s a great veteran presence. Losing him hurts, but the next guy will step up and we’ll keep rotating guys in to figure out who it is going to be.”
Teams can now bring two players back from injured reserve during the season, without designating them for possible return in advance. Gase’s comments suggest that Larsen could be one of the two Dolphins who return later this year. By rule he can be reinstated to the active after eight weeks of the regular season. Under past formulations of the rule, teams were required to keep a player injured during training camp or the preseason on the active roster through the cut to 53 players before that player would be eligible to return from injured reserve.
Larsen arrived as a free agent from the Bears to fill the void in the line created by the decision to move on from left tackle Branden Albert and to slide 2016 first-rounder Laremy Tunsil from left guard to left tackle.