At 0-5, the Miami Dolphins are now only one of two NFL teams that have not won a game this season. During Miami’s bye week, the Tennessee Titans won their first game of the season, while the Los Angeles Chargers, whose offensive coordinator is former Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel, fell to 0-6.

Miami remains the only NFL team that has not held a lead at any point this season. Despite this, the Dolphins have been in some competitive games. 

On Sunday, the Miami Dolphins will search for their first win of the season as they take on the 2-4 New York Jets at MetLife Stadium. 

Fortunately, it appears the Dolphins will be getting some key players back for that matchup, including rookie wide receiver Caleb Douglas.

Miami Dolphins Announce Encouraging News on Caleb Douglas

Ahead of Miami taking on the Jets, Miami Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley said of Caleb Douglas’ status: “Caleb will be limited today. We’ll see how he looks today and progress to Wednesday, but  I think there’s optimism there. Let’s see how it goes today and if he can get ramped up on Wednesday, it’d be good to get him back out there. Just looking back through the last couple weeks watching some of the things that he did, we’ve missed him and to see a rookie kind of have to stop and start like that, not ideal. But he’s worked really hard and it would be great to get him back.”

Regarding whether he was concerned the rookie wide receiver would show signs of rust in his return, Hafley said, “We’ll be very excited if we can get him back and get him going this week, especially just looking back and seeing what he was able to do and what he brings to the offense. He hasn’t played football in a while, so he’s going to need to get back and get the rust off and get back into the rhythm of playing. Hopefully it doesn’t take too much time. Hopefully he was locked in mentally like I’m sure that he was, because I watched him closely. I know he did a good job with the strength staff and with Kyle downstairs. If we can get him back for Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and get him going, I’m excited to see what we can do on Sunday.”

Caleb Douglas’ Importance

Regarding Douglas’ rookie season, Dolphins on SI’s Tyler Carmona wrote: “Douglas is the most difficult rookie to evaluate because his first five games have essentially consisted of one excellent afternoon, a quiet performance and three weeks on the sideline.

His NFL debut against Las Vegas was memorable, as he caught five passes for 94 yards, is the third-highest receiving yardage total by any rookie receiver this year.

But an ankle injury suffered against San Francisco has kept him out of action since Week 2.

The encouraging part is that we’ve already seen his ability to win against NFL coverage, which Miami lacks. 

But just because he’s capable of performing well doesn’t mean it will be the norm, so we shall wait and see.”

Without Douglas in the lineup, Miami has been the worst passing offense in the NFL. In the two games with Douglas, Miami averaged 183.5 passing yards. Without Douglas, Miami is averaging only 133.7.