The Dolphins can no longer afford to turn a blind eye to one key starter’s ongoing availability issues after latest setback
The Dolphins have placed a second starter on the offensive line on injured reserve this week.
It’s officially time to have an uncomfortable conversation. There’s a fair chance that we will be having a bunch of them in the weeks and months ahead for the Miami Dolphins. But a Saturday development has moved one of Miami’s starters off the active roster — yet again. And no matter how well Miami’s season rebounds (or doesn’t) throughout the early chapters of the 2025 season, we have officially reached critical mass with one of Miami’s vital starters up front.
The Dolphins announced a series of roster transactions in advance of Week 2 after a frustrating Week 1 loss to the Colts — elevating two players off the practice squad and signing practice squad cornerback Cornell Armstrong to the active roster. The move they made to make space?
Starting right tackle Austin Jackson has been placed on injured reserve.
Dolphins place right tackle Austin Jackson on injured reserve — again
James Daniels, Miami’s marquee free agent addition this offseason, went on injured reserve earlier this week with a pectoral injury. Jackson, who missed essentially all of training camp with a toe injury, left Miami’s Week 1 loss in the second half with either a separate toe injury or by re-aggravating the preexisting injury. Jackson has now been placed on injured reserve for the second time in as many seasons and for the fourth time in the last four years.
It’s an unfortunate turn of events, and it is also one that should put Jackson’s outlook after 2025 in question. Jackson has one more year left after this season on a three-year, $36 million contract extension signed by the team in 2023. The Dolphins, for their part, are trying to build a young, refortified offensive front. The irregular availability continuing at right tackle feels unsustainable — whether Mike McDaniel and his staff are back after this year or not.
Should the Dolphins choose to move on from Jackson after the season, here’s what you need to know about the cap numbers
The Dolphins could move on from Jackson via cut or trade any time at the start of next offseason and absorb a $13.764 million dead cap charge. That’s a savings of $2.009 million in cap space from his scheduled cap charge to play with the team in 2026.
Should Miami choose to designate him as a post-June 1 release, they’d be facing dead cap charges of $4.272 million in 2026 (a total of $11.5 million in cap savings next season) and $9.49 million in 2027. Of course, Post-June 1 cuts do not reflect actual cap savings until after the first of June every year — so Miami would need to wait to cash in on cap savings in that scenario.
We could easily see Jackson back in the fray in just four weeks. No one knows for sure. He (and the Dolphins) should be hoping so, for the sake of everyone involved. They’ll now play their 10th game in their last 11 contests, going back to midseason last year without Jackson on the field. And that streak will reach at least 13 of the last 14 before he’s eligible to return.
Jackson is a good player when he’s on the field. He deserves ample credit for how he’s grown as a player since his early career struggles as a top-20 draft choice. But the qualifier of “when he’s on the field” is applicable to too many members of the Dolphins’ roster — and Jackson is the first to remind us of his troublesome durability woes in 2025.
Even if he’s back in just four weeks, it’s valuable missed time that is compounded with missed time in training camp, while Jackson was poised to serve as a key leader on Miami’s offensive line. You can’t lead from the sideline.
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Mike McDaniel is prepping for another offensive line change in Week 2.
