Projecting the Dolphins Week 4 Inactives

Head coach Jeff Hafley is looking pretty much at the same picture when it comes to setting his game-day lineup for the Miami Dolphins' Week 4 against the Minnesota Vikings.

The Dolphins addressed a lot of the unresolved issues with their Saturday moves, which included signing running back Carlos Washington Jr. to the active roster and elevating defensive tackle Mazi Smith and rookie edge Rodney McGraw from the practice squad.

The move with Washington gave the Dolphins three game-day running backs along with Jaylen Wright and Ollie Gordon II, with Wright back after he missed the home opener against the Kansas City Chiefs because of injury.

The addition of Smith will give the Dolphins four interior defensive linemen and McGraw will give Miami five edge defenders, with newcomer Andre Jones Jr. almost strictly a special teams contributor at this point.

This means the roster decisions now left will be based on personnel and strategy.

We went 5-for-6 in predicting the inactives for the Week 3 game against the Chiefs (we never include Brady Cook as the emergency third quarterback because that's an automatic) and are no 15-for-17 on the season.

PROJECTING THE DOLPHINS INACTIVES FOR WEEK 4

The Dolphins again have 55 players from which to choose after their Saturday moves, 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, three of whom will be Brady Cook serving as the emergency third quarterback and Caleb Douglas and Robert Beal Jr. because of their injury.

Here are this week's projections:

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

WR Caleb Douglas: No need to discuss this one, with Douglas ruled out Friday.

EDGE Robert Beal Jr.: Same as Douglas; Beal was ruled out Friday.

T Chukwuebuka Godrick: The next two remain obvious because the backup offensive linemen weren't involved in the game against the Raiders or 49ers, other than Caedan Wallace getting four total snaps as a sixth lineman, 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 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 figures to return to the inactive list against Minnesota after making his NFL debut against Kansas City when his limited snaps came only on special teams.

CB Marcellas Dial Jr.: Dial is among the young group of backup cornerbacks the top three of Chris Johnson, JuJu Brents and Jason Marshall Jr., and he's the one who's been inactive the past two games while Reece Taylor and Jaylin Simpson got work mostly on special teams. And with that unit coming off a good performance against Kansas City, Hafley probably won't be motivated to make a change.

THE 2026 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

Week 2 (at San Francisco) — WR Jalen Tolbert, QB Brady Cook (3QB), CB Marcellas Dial Jr., G DJ Campbell, T Chukwuebuka Godrick, TE Justin Joly, EDGE Chop Robinson

Week 3 (vs. Kansas City) — QB Brady Cook (3QB), CB Marcellas Dial Jr., G DJ Campbell, T Chukwuebuka Godrick, RB Jaylen Wright, WR Caleb Douglas, EDGE Robert Beal Jr.