Dolphins Lead NFL in Unfortunate Category

The Miami Dolphins' standing as the No. 1 team in this category might not last for long, and that would be a good thing

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) throws the football against the Buffalo Bills during the third quarter at Hard Rock Stadium. / Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

The start of the 2024 regular season has been a forgettable one for the Miami Dolphins, with one of the lowlights being that they're last in the NFL in scoring.

The Dolphins do lead the league in one category, but as things are going right now of course it's an undesirable category: players on reserve lists or PUP.

According to research done by FOX Sports NFL reporter Greg Auman, the Dolphins stand at the top with 14 players currently on a reserve list or PUP, one player more than the Detroit Lions and two more than the Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns and Carolina Panthers, with the Washington Commanders coming in last with only four players on a reserve list or PUP.

There are 257 players on injured reserve/PUP/non-football injury/illness lists -- basically eight per team.

14: Dolphins
13: Lions
12: Steelers, Browns, Rams
10: Patriots, Texans
9: Bucs, Panthers, Vikings
8: Broncos, Colts, Bengals, Ravens, Saints, Bears, Cardinals, 49ers
7:…

— Greg Auman (@gregauman) September 25, 2024

The breakdown is nine players currently on injured reserve, four on PUP, and one of the Reserve/Retired list.

The nine on IR (in alphabetical order): LB Cam Brown, WR River Cracraft, WR Grant DuBose, S Patrick McMorris, OLB Grayson Murphy, CB Cam Smith, T Kion Smith, QB Tua Tagovailoa, WR Tahj Washington.

The four on PUP: WR Odell Beckham Jr., OLB Bradley Chubb, OLB Cameron Goode, OL Isaiah Wynn.

The one on the Reserve/Retired list is OLB Shaquil Barrett.

POTENTIAL GOOD NEWS AHEAD FOR THE DOLPHINS

If there's any silver lining (forgive the cliche) here for the Dolphins is that their list of 14 players could be cut by as much as half by next week.

The four PUP players all are eligible to return to practice next week, and the same goes for the three players placed on IR before the start of the regular season: Cracraft, McMorris and Smith.

Once any of the four PUP players return to practice, they will have a three-week window, after which the Dolphins will have to decide whether to activate them to the 53-man roster, keep them on PUP for the rest of the season or release them.

Tagovailoa and DuBose both will be eligible to come off IR after the Week 7 game against the Indianapolis Colts following the bye, while Murphy, Smith and Washington are out for the season because they were placed on IR before the cuts down to the 53-man roster — though technically, they could be released with an injury settlement and get re-signed after a few weeks.

The Dolphins are the only team with its starting quarterback on IR, though the Green Bay Packers also have had to play with their backup. With Jordan Love nursing a knee injury, the Packers are 2-0 with Malik Willis starting, with victories against the Indianapolis Colts and Tennessee Titans, the Dolphins' Week 4 opponents.