Terron Armstead's Discovering What His "Limitations Are Physically" in return to practice

Terron Armstead participates in his first Dolphins practice in nearly a month since suffering an ankle injury in mid-August.

Sporting a red jersey and a compression sleeve on his surgically repaired right knee, Terron Armstead participated in his first practice with the Miami Dolphins in nearly a month.

The Dolphins' Pro Bowl left tackle, who missed the season opener because of an ankle injury he suffered Aug. 17 in the second of two joint practices with the Houston Texans, seemingly had his participation limited. 

But in the portion of Wednesday's positional drills the media got to watch, Armstead looked athletic enough to handle an NFL practice.

Armstead moved well during Wednesday's practice

However, the red jersey, which is usually worn by quarterbacks, designates the 11-year veteran as a player who can't handle contact, and shouldn't engage in contact.

Before injuring himself in Miami's joint practice against the Texans, Armstead was rehabbing a knee scope he had in the offseason, and that injury limited him to four days of 11-on-11 work during training camp. And those reps were limited to less than half a dozen snaps per day.

Miami clarified last week that he's nursing knee, back and ankle injuries on the first team-issued injury report. Armstead's status for the game against the New England Patriots on Sunday will be clarified later in the week, and likely will be determined by his level of practice participation.

That decision could go to game day, coach Mike McDaniel hinted.

"I don't know, gut feeling [says] that he might have to resort to a style of play [to] just get through. I don't think that's fair to him or his teammates," McDaniel said. "If there was a scenario that [Armstead] was the only human being possible, you maybe consider that but probably not."

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Armstead said his main focus is on understanding "my limitations physically," getting a gauge for what his 32-year-old body can, and can't do at this point.

“It’s a feel. I missed a lot of time in training camp so I don’t have many reps under my belt for this campaign, so I definitely have to get those in and get into playing shape, get my hands right, my timing right, my communication right with the guys," said Armstead, who had traditionally used the month before the regular season to get his body into shape. "You never know without doing it so I have to get in there and get active.”

Kendall Lamm replaced Armstead in Miami's 36-34 win against the Los Angeles Chargers and did a good job containing Chargers Pro Bowl pass rushers Khalil Mack and Joey Bosa in his 30th NFL start. 

"The biggest thing is that you have to have depth on your football team. And, for him and the Dolphins, you just don't want him to gut through it for a cause and then the tape doesn't go away," McDaniel continued on Armstead. "It's part of our personal relationship, and he respects [me] in regards to those types of decisions, which I appreciate."

The other player who returned to practice was safety Elijah Campbell, who has been sidelined by a knee injury he suffered in the preseason finale against Jacksonville two weeks ago.

Campbell was competing for a starting safety spot the week he got injured, and he's viewed as a core special teams contributor.