Dolphins lose Jeff Wilson; McDaniel updates injuries. And Montana says Marino the best

Already short-handed at running back, the Dolphins have lost Jeff Wilson Jr. for at least four weeks.

The Dolphins announced Thursday that Wilson is joining cornerback Jalen Ramsey and guard Robert Jones on injured reserve, meaning they will be sidelined at least a month.

Wilson’s move to IR leaves Miami with four tailbacks on the 53-man roster, and two of them (Salvon Ahmed and De’Von Achane) have been dealing with injuries. Raheem Mostert and Chris Brooks are the team’s only healthy tailbacks.

The good news is that Achane and Ahmed are near returns, coach Mike McDaniel suggested on Thursday.

McDaniel said Achane, who is dealing with a shoulder injury, will be back “sooner rather than later,” and he expects the rookie running to be able to do “prep work” next week before the Sept. 10 opener at the Chargers, though he stopped short of saying Achane would be available for the opener.

McDaniel said Ahmed — who was shaken up in the Jaguars preseason game — will practice Thursday or when the team reconvenes Monday after three days off. He looks to be on track to be available for the opener.

The Dolphins filled the Wilson, Ramsey and Jones roster spots with cornerbacks Justin Bethel and Parry Nickerson and tight end Tyler Kroft.

McDaniel said Wilson had “a midsection injury compounded by some finger issues. We made the assessment he couldn’t protect himself and couldn’t be himself the way we know him to be. Time is the best healer. His true passion in life is to play this game so he will do everything he can. I wouldn’t be surprised if he would make a return this season. We will let his body tell us.”

Other news from McDaniel’s Thursday media briefing:

▪ McDaniel said he expects safety Elijah Campbell to be available in the “first quarter of the season.” That’s why he wasn’t put on IR. Bethel, who was wearing protective covering on his leg last week, was healthy enough to re-sign to the 53.

▪ Per ESPN, five teams put in waiver claims on Dolphins sixth-round rookie Elijah Higgins, with Arizona awarded him on waivers. Why did the Dolphins opt to keep undrafted rookie Julian Hill on the 53-man roster instead of Tanner Conner (who was signed to the Dolphins’ practice squad) or Higgins?

“It speaks more to what we think about Julian and less on Elijah,” McDaniel said. “That was an intense competition that you get a lot of moments to evaluate. It wasn’t a crazy distinction. It’s not to speak lowly of Elijah. It’s more about Julian’s ability to really come from a small school and develop... to the point where we thought he earned the trust of teammates. That was a close competition. It’s an inexact science, the whole draft process in general.”

Higgins was transitioning from Stanford wide receiver to an NFL tight end with the Dolphins. Asked last week if Higgins would be able to help the Dolphins this season, tight ends coach John Embree said he wasn’t sure.

▪ Each Dolphins player’s locker stall was relocated this season to a different part of the room, and McDaniel said he took into account “a lot of things” in deciding which players are placed next to each other. Players aren’t clustered by position, though outside linebackers Bradley Chubb and Jaelan Phillips are sitting next to each other.

“There are certain things that inspired certain locker room assignments,” McDaniel said. “It was [easier] knowing all the guys so much better than I did last year. Guys know more about each other, and that’s kind of the whole idea behind it.”

▪ McDaniel wasn’t ready to name a No. 2 quarterback (Mike White or Skylar Thompson), left guard (Isaiah Wynn appears to be the front-runner over injured Liam Eichenberg) or the safety spot opposite Jevon Holland. DeShon Elliott has started alongside Holland in preseason, but Brandon Jones likely will again play a lot as well.

MARINO THE BEST?

Legendary NFL quarterback Joe Montana told Men’s Health Magazine that Dolphins legend Dan Marino is the best quarterback in history.

“Put Marino into today’s game where he gets free release... and his receivers, holy cow, weren’t very big,” Montana said. “Now these guys are 6-4, 6-5. I think [Marino] is probably one of the most unsung heroes of the game. People don’t talk enough about him or realize the numbers that he put up during the times that he put them up.”

Montana indicated that Marino was uniquely special in how he could throw a football.

“He had a quick release. I had to step into a lot of things to get enough [power] on the ball,” Montana said of Marino. “He had the perfect torque of his upper body and strength to deliver the ball quickly at a fast release with accuracy.”

Marino is now eighth on the NFL’s all-time passing yards list with 61,361. Tom Brady is first with 89,214.