Connor Williams Suffered Season-ending ACL Injury

Dolphins will use Liam Eichenberg at center to replace Connor Williams, and will be shopping for O-line help

Miami Dolphins starting center Connor Williams suffered a season-ending knee injury that could impact his free agency this upcoming offseason.

Williams, who has started 26 games at center for the Dolphins since joining the team as a free agent in 2022, got his left knee rolled up under by a Tennessee Titans defender in Monday night's 28-27 fourth-quarter loss to the Titans, and head coach Mike McDaniel confirmed he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.

Williams, who had been one of the top performers on Miami's offensive line the past two seasons, now faces a 9-to-12 month rehabilitation process, which means the earliest he'll be cleared to participate in football activities could be mid-October.

"You don't directly replace [him] necessarily," McDaniel said of Williams, who was performing like one of the NFL's top centers this season. "He was playing some excellent ball. His journey, position switching, and finding good footing, you don't replace that directly."

Miami expecting more from Eichenberg

Miami will likely have to finish the season's final four regular season games with Liam Eichenberg as the team's starting center.

Eichenberg has started three games at center for the Dolphins, and has filled in for even more snaps. The third-year veteran started Monday night's game at right guard as Robert Hunt's replacement, but Robert Jones entered the game at that spot when Eichenberg was forced to move inside.

If Eichenberg does make a permanent move to center, Jones would likely fill in as the starting right guard until Hunt, who is rehabbing a hamstring injury he aggravated last week, is ready to return to the lineup.

McDaniel downplayed the possibility of Hunt returning to practice this week because of the hamstring injury he re-aggravated two weeks ago, but he was optimistic about Terron Armstead, the team's starting left tackle, returning to the lineup this week for Sunday's game against the New York Jets.

It seems as if Armstead, who was held out of the Titans game, will test the ankle he sprained in Miami's win over the Washington Commanders on Dec. 3.

"We've sustained multiple lineup changes. But at some point it gets a little challenging for everyone when it gets into double-digits (of line changes)," McDaniel said, referring to the Dolphins using it's ninth different starting O-line against the Titans.

O-line breaking in ninth different starting line

By the conclusion of Monday night's game, Austin Jackson, the Dolphins' starting right tackle, was the only week one starter on the field for the Dolphins. McDaniel admitted the O-line issues, which contributed to the five sacks the Titans recorded on Tua Tagovailoa, was a factor in Miami's offensive play-calling.

"Along that journey guys get more equipped and start playing better at positions," McDaniel said, highlighting the improves he's seen from Lester Cotton, Eichenberg and Jones.

And now the pressure is on Eichenberg, a 2021 second-round pick, who has struggled at times the past three seasons, to take his game to another level if Miami wants to push for the AFC East division crown, and fight for the AFC's No. 1 seed in the playoffs.

"He's played well enough for us to win, and the next week he comes back and plays even better," McDaniel said about Eichenberg, who has started eight games at left guard, center and right guard this season. "That momentum we are counting on."

The Dolphins have two other center options — rookie Alama Uluave and Chasen Hines — on the 53-man roster. Cotton, who is filling in as the starting left guard, has also worked as a center in practices.

Chase Roullier, Rodney Hudson, Ben Jones, Justin Britt, Kyle Fuller, James Ferentz, Matt Skura, Nick Martin, Josh Andrews, Sam Mustipher, and Jake Hanson are the veteran free agent centers potentially looking for employment. But there's also a chance Miami could sign a center off another team's practice squad.

Williams' free agency could be impacted

Williams sat out Miami's entire offseason program trying to force the Dolphins into giving him a multi-year extension. He played this season on his initial two-year, $14 million deal. 

That deal paid Williams $7 million for this season, but it shifted all the risk to the impending free agent, who couldn't afford to suffer a serious injury that could impact his free agent market.

If he's facing a 9-to-12 month rehabilitation process the odds of Williams receiving a top 10 salary for a center are slim. However, it's not impossible to think that he could land a respectable deal considering he'd potentially be healthy enough to play in 2024.

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