These aren’t your father’s Miami Dolphins. The old Dolphins would handle the Lynn Bowden Jr. injury like Neanderthals, trying to start a fire by waiting for lightning. They would sit him out and wait for him to return just so he can take multiple weeks to potentially feel like he’s in mid-season form. Meanwhile three quarters of the season would be over and Bowden Jr. coming back wouldn’t mean anything.
But like I opened up with, these aren’t your grandfather’s Miami Dolphins. The Miami Dolphins have moved on from barely bi-pedal creatures to savvy Jordan Belfort type humans. Minus the skiing with dancers because as we know they got rid of those type of guys.
This regime that runs the Miami Dolphins are taking an unfortunate situation and turning it into a move that could very possibly pay off major dividends next season.
Hopefully, Bowden Jr. doesn’t take an injury settlement and will be in training camp with the Dolphins to start the 2022 season. He’s a player who is young and still very much learning a new position. He showed upside last year, and will have a great opportunity to produce for Miami for years to come.
Why the Dolphins putting Bowden Jr. on IR is a smart move
The genius here is that Bowden Jr. has a hamstring injury, something that seems like a prerequisite to be a Miami Dolphin’s wide-receiver. A typical hamstring injury typically takes about 4-8 weeks pending severity and lingers around the whole season.
With putting Bowden Jr. on the season ending IR, he now gets to heal and to focus on next year. He doesn’t have to come back and get reacclimated to the team and slowly get worked in. Yes, it would have been fun to see him work back to playing this year. But with the amount of receiver depth the Dolphins currently have, he’s a guy that can sit out the year healing and learning and the offense won’t miss a beat.
We all know that the Dolphins, currently, house a loaded wide-receiver room. Even with the release of Robert Foster and Isaiah Ford, who lets face it will probably be on the team later on this year when the Dolphins have predictable injuries to other receivers and need a guy who knows what he’s doing to come in and play, the Dolphins have very good wide outs.
Parker, Fuller, Waddle, Williams, Wilson, Hollins, and either Grant, Merrit, or Perry will be their 7th receiver making the club.
What this means for next year
But next year, the wide receiver room, I expect, will look much different. I would think Parker will be gone. Fuller signed a one year deal so it’s hard to say if Miami would sign him to a long term deal. Preston Williams and Albert Wilson are two other guys that aren’t locks to be around for multiple years to come.
This means that having Bowden Jr., who has been immersed in the new offensive scheme, will be able to step in a pick up where he left off. He might even be thought of as a guy who needs to be one of the main receivers on the squad.
The important aspect here is that Grier and Flores are always looking ahead. Of course this season is paramount. But, they’re smart enough to know that next year is also important to consider right now. That’s why I love this move. There are adults running the show who will do things that seem weird but are actually in fact smart. Enjoy your Wednesday.
Follow Matthew Serniak on Twitter
Tweet
Prize Picks
PrizePicks operates in EVERY US state and Canada EXCEPT for the following: AZ CO DE HI ID IN IA LA MD ME MS MO MT NV NH NJ OH PA TN VA WA.
- Use promo code “ATB” to receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100
- PrizePicks is the simplest fantasy game on the market.
- You pick 2-5 players and can win up 10x on any entry.
- PrizePicks has no sharks, optimizers, or mass-multi entry (It’s just you vs. the projection).
- PrizePicks allows mixed-sport entries (You can take the OVER on Lebron parlayed with the UNDER on Mahomes).
- PrizePicks has a slick easy to use mobile app, both on the App Store and Google Play
How to use PrizePicks:
Around The Block 