Miami Dolphins offensive tackle Jake Long put on injured reserve – NFL News
Miami Dolphins have placed their top offensive tackle Jake Long on injured reserve (IR) list on Tuesday, December 04, 2012, after he was diagnosed to have torn triceps.
This is the second consecutive season that Long has been put on the IR by Dolphins. He got injured during the first half of Week 13 game against New England Patriots on Sunday, December 02.
Dolphins head coach previously said on Monday that there was no clear conclusion about the status of Long’s injury.
However, reports started coming into the media that indicated that Long was likely to miss the rest of the season for healing the injury. Talking about Long’s injury, Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin said:
“He’s been an excellent leader, he’s a valued member of the offense. However, injuries occur with every team in the NFL, ours is no different. If that is the case, we’re going to go to work and get five guys ready to go up front.”
To replace Long, Dolphins have re-signed offensive tackle Patrick Brown. The tame is also likely to get services of rookie right tackle Jonathan Martin who played well in place of Long during last game. Giving his views about playing at left tackle, Martin
said:
“I’m a little rusty because I haven’t played that side in several months. It’s like muscle memory. You’ve just got to remember how it feels but it’s one of those things where you take a couple of reps and you feel good again.”
Long’s future with Dolphins remains uncertain. The first overall pick of the 2008 draft is going through final months of his rookie contract.
The interesting thing to see will be whether the team will keep a player like Long who has a tendency of getting injury every now and then.
Long, 27, still has many more years of football ahead of him and will be a great prospect as a free agent next year. Meanwhile, Dolphins will have to put $15 million franchise tag on the player if they want to analyse the player’s condition before making
a long-term decision.
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