The Miami Dolphins placed starting right guard James Daniels on the injured reserve, ruling him out for at least the next four weeks, the team announced Tuesday.
Daniels, who signed a three-year, $24 million deal with Miami in free agency earlier this year, suffered a pectoral injury on the Dolphins’ third offensive play in a 33-8 loss in Week 1. While ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported Daniels avoided a tear that could’ve potentially ended his 2025 season, the injury was severe enough to keep the guard out of action for close to a month.
Now that he’s on the injured reserve, Daniels isn’t eligible to return to action until a Week 6 game against the Los Angeles Chargers, at the earliest.
Taking Daniels’ place on the 53-man roster is former New England Patriots first-round pick Cole Strange, who was on the Cleveland Browns’ practice squad. However, the likelier player to take over in the starting lineup is Kion Smith, who stepped in at right guard Sunday when Daniels exited.
Smith, 26, is in his fifth season with the Dolphins, but has never started an NFL game and has appeared in only 10. The other options on the roster are veterans Daniel Brunskill, Kendall Lamm, and Larry Borom.
This article originally appeared on Dolphins Wire: Dolphins starting RG lands on injured reserve after playing only 3 snaps
Reporting by Dolphins Wire / Dolphins Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
