Miami Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill left practice early after suffering an injury to his right knee, but hasn’t suffered any structural damage. The Dolphins told ESPN that they were “concerned” as they awaited the results of his MRI, but the injury to his left knee isn’t as serious as what they feared.
Tannehill went down with a non-contact injury, and remained on the floor for some time before limping off to the locker room to get assessed.
Tannehill’s injury a worry for the Dolphins
The quarterback suffered a sprained ACL and MCL in his last knee – the same knee that he went down with in practice – last season. He was wearing a brace on the knee as a precaution to start with, and fell awkwardly on the sideline when scrambling back on a play. Offensive coordinator Clyde Christensen said: “I just saw him kind of buckle and go down. I didn’t see any details. There was no contact on the play. That was all I really saw.”
Tannehill had his most impressive season with the Dolphins in 2016, finishing 8-5 as their starting quarterback and with a career-best passer rating of 93.5.
One name that has been mentioned as a potential replacement – if Tannehill is on the sideline – is Colin Kaepernick.
Ajayi suffers concussion in practice
Sources told ESPN that his name has been mentioned just in case the injury to their starting quarterback rules him out for any games. Kaepernick has been a free agent ever since his chose to leave the San Francisco 49ers back at the start of March. He has also been linked strongly to a move to AFC North side Baltimore Ravens in recent weeks.
One more piece of news regarding injuries for the Dolphins is that running back Jay Ajayi suffered concussion during Monday’s practice. The British-born player is under concussion protocol now, and Christensen added: “The initial reaction is just be the next man up".
“You gotta keep going. You gotta keep guys going and you can’t let the air go out of practice. That’s football. [Injuries] are going to happen somewhere in the season.”