Dolphins’ Flores addresses Tua, Shaheen, other issues while punting on Raekwon Davis

Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores on Wednesday declined to say if defensive tackle Raekwon Davis will play again this season. He also declined to say if Davis will have surgery.

Davis must miss at least three games because he’s on injured reserve. After sustaining the knee injury at New England, Davis was able to sprint down the sideline, which was encouraging. But he did not return to the game.

Flores explained he doesn’t like giving timelines for injuries - or what doctors have told him - because everything with injuries is subject to change and players can have setbacks. He also said he’s not comfortable discussing players’ medical issues.

“I don’t like giving timelines,” Flores said. “I’ve had injury setbacks.”

According to a source, Flores does not like revealing if a player is out for the year (even though he knows the answer) because he wants opponents later in the season guessing whether a player will be back and thus needing to spend time preparing for that player.

Flores gave similar answers last season about whether Austin Jackson and Preston Williams would return from injured reserve and warned both players not to reveal it. One associate of one of those players who revealed something about his injury in a public forum was admonished by the team and told to delete his post.

Jackson returned from IR last season; Williams had surgery and did not.

The Dolphins’ next three opponents (Buffalo, Las Vegas, Indianapolis) know that Davis will not be available to play because of the league’s IR rules.

Flores addressed other issues during his Wednesday news conference:

▪ He said Adam Shaheen came off the COVID-19 list and will be back at practice. The Dolphins’ had an open roster spot; they’re now at 53.

Austin Jackson, who came off the COVID list on Saturday and played three snaps against New England (all on special teams), also will practice today.

▪ On Tua Tagovailoa’s development: “He’s a young player who is getting better every time he steps on the field. That’s in a lot of areas, reading defenses, his decision-making, his progressions are all getting better.”

▪ Flores said he’s not sure the specific role that Will Fuller will have on Sunday: “Today is the first day back [off suspension]. He’s had some production in this league, has speed. If [we] think he can help us, he’ll be out there. We’ll practice today and see how it goes and make a determination on who plays and how much they’ll play.”

▪ On last year’s 56-26 loss to Buffalo to end the season and how that factors into Sunday’s game: “Obviously, we’ve studied the game. A lot of things we didn’t do good enough. It didn’t go so well. Last year was last year. Last week was last week. They’ve got some new players, so do we.”

▪ On Josh Allen: “He’s a very talented player. He’s improved incredibly over the course of his career. He’s got a lot of confidence, total command of the offense. They’ve got skill all over the field. They’ve got a good team. It’s about tackling well. This is a good team.

▪ On the Bills’ defense: “They do a very good job of disguising. It’s not a one-person situation. Tua is a big part of that. Everyone is involved in that. If Tua knows and somebody else doesn’t know, it still doesn’t work.”

▪ On Noah Igbinoghene being inactive against New England, he said “Noah had a good training camp. You can only bring so many players to the game by league rule. We’ll see how it goes in practice. He’s a hard working kid. We’ll continue to do what’s best for the team.”

▪ He said not to read anything into Mike Gesicki getting only 21 snaps against New England.