The Strange (and Disappointing) James Daniels Development

James Daniels has played three snaps so far in his first year with the Miami Dolphins, and it's starting to look like those might end up being his only three snaps of the season.

The veteran guard remains on injured reserve because of the pectoral injury he sustained on the Dolphins' first drive in their opener against the Indianapolis Colts, and head coach Mike McDAniel said Monday for the first time he wasn't sure whether Daniels would return this season.

This is a startling turn of events considering what McDaniel said in the days following that Week 1 game when he suggested the decision to place Daniels on IR was a "tough determination with the four weeks, so that's kind of in the ‘ish’ realm with where he's at."

Well, it's now been 11 weeks since Daniels was injured and McDaniel said Monday there still is no timetable for the guard's return.

That, of course, would suggest the possibility of a setback in Daniels' recovery, but this is what McDaniel had to say about that: "I don't want to arbitrarily say he is or he isn't, but I don't really know if he will return or not. So that's kind of where I'm at."

Considering there are six weeks remaining in the 2025 regular season, it's not out of line to suggest that's going to be it for Daniels.

This would be the second time in his career Daniels has missed significant time with a pectoral injury, the first time coming when he was a member of the Chicago Bears and was injured in October with an injury that cost him the rest of the 2020 season.

If this latest injury involved a tear, McDaniel likely would have said in September there was no way he was coming back in 2025, so this was something less significant.

It also should be noted that tight end Darren Waller also wound up on injured reserve with a pectoral injury this season, but he's expected back at practice this week after sitting out the required four games.

No two injuries are the same, but it certainly is interesting that Waller can return so much more quickly than Daniels, and this is where the idea of a fear of aggravation could be a factor.

In the meantime, the Dolphins will continue to go with former New England Patriots first-round pick Cole Strange as the starting right guard, with McDaniel praising his work Monday.

DANIELS' DOLPHINS FUTURE

Daniels signed a three-year contract with the Dolphins this past offseason, but this will be the second consecutive year he was sidelined early by an injury — and the third time in six seasons he's played five or fewer games — and it's fair to wonder what his future with the team might be.

Daniels' cap number will go from $2.7 million to $4.9 million next year, according to Over The Cap, but he has no guaranteed salary left.

The Dolphins won't realize much in terms of cap savings if they release him in the offseason because they're still on the hook for $4.8 million of prorated signing bonus money. The Dolphins could bring his cap number down to $1.2 million by making him a post-June 1 designation, but understand that each team is limited to two of those every year.