Projecting the Dolphins Week 2 Inactives

After heading into their season opener with every player on the active roster available, the Miami Dolphins will navigate some injury issues for their Week 2 matchup against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium

The most significant issue, of course, involves edge defender Chop Robinson, who was ruled out for the 49ers game with a concussion he sustained during practice Wednesday.

Robinson is the only player on the active roster who definitely will miss the game because of injury after linebacker Ronnie Harrison Jr. was placed on injured reserve Saturday.

It's still too early in Jeff Hafley's tenure as Dolphins head coach to detect a clear pattern when it comes to which player he'll make sure to have in the lineup and which will be inactive, though looking at the Week 1 lineup obviously is a great starting point in trying to project the inactive list.

PROJECTING THE DOLPHINS INACTIVES FOR WEEK 2

The Dolphins have 55 players from which to choose after elevating edge defenders Clelin Ferrell and Max Llewellyn from the practice squad and the game-day limit is 48 if at least eight of them are offensive linemen, which basically is a given.

That means we have to project seven inactives, two of whom will Brady Cook serving as the emergency third quarterback and Robinson because of his concussion.

With that said, here's our best guess as to what the Week 2 inactive list will look like. For the record, we went 5-for-6 with our projections last week when the Dolphins elevated only one player (Ferrell) from the practice squad. Our one miss was cornerback Reese Taylor, who was inactive where we had safety Julius Wood instead.

Here are this week's projections:

QB Brady Cook: This one is a no-brainer that will remain constant until/if something happens with Malik Willis.

EDGE Chop Robinson: No need to discuss this one. Robinson was ruled out Friday.

WR Jalen Tolbert.: Tolbert was made inactive, as we had predicted, against the Raiders and the biggest story probably involved special teams because Kevin Coleman Jr. is the backup punt returner to Malik Washington, plus the Dolphins likely will go with their rookies over veterans when given the chance. The same factors are at play again this week, though maybe receiver issues in getting open could convince Hafley to make Tolbert active. We'll put that off for now and have Tolbert inactive again.

T Chukwuebuka Godrick: The next two remains obvious because the backup offensive linemen weren't involved in the game against the Raiders, so nothing has changed. The Dolphins have 10 offensive linemen on the active roster, which is a very high number, and it's pretty much a slam dunk that two of them will sit. Despite being listed as the second-team left tackle behind Patrick Paul, we're still thinking he's sitting and the Dolphins would use either Caedan Wallace and Jarrett Kingston at left tackle in a pinch.

G DJ Campbell: The rookie sixth-round pick remains listed on the third team on the depth chart, which suggests he'll continue to be inactive for at least a while.

TE Justin Joly: Joly was inactive last week and the only reason this might change is the fact that Traore was on the injury report all week, though he didn't get a game status designation. The reasoning remains the same here, that Traore's special teams work will get him the nod in the early weeks of the season until such time the Dolphins feel Joly can contribute enough to justify making him active on game.

CB Marcellas Dial Jr.: This is where we'll make our one change from last week, with Taylor getting his chance here and Dial sitting. When the Dolphins signed Jaylin Simpson from the practice squad this week, it gave them six cornerbacks on the 53 and it's difficult to envision all six being active. Taylor gets the nod this week to make his Dolphins debut.

THE 20206 DOLPHINS INACTIVES

Week 1 (at Las Vegas) — WR Jalen Tolbert, QB Brady Cook (3QB), CB Reese Taylor, G DJ Campbell, T Chukwuebuka Godrick, TE Justin Joly