Miami Dolphins: Just how big of a blow is Louis Delmas injury?

Miami Dolphins free safety Louis Delmas is one of the better players at the position, as he’s reliably provided coverage help for the Detroit Lions and Dolphins over the past few seasons. After he went down with a torn ACL last season, the Dolphins pass defense surrendered 287, 238, and 390 passing yards in their final three games, with New York Jets maligned quarterback Geno Smith riding Eric Decker‘s talent en route to torching the ‘Fins secondary in Week 17.

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We were all holding our collective breaths today when it was first reported that Delmas, along with Carolina Panthers No. 1 receiver Kelvin Benjamin, were carted off at different points today during joint practices between the Dolphins and Lions. Delmas’s injury was to his right knee, which is, yes, the same knee that he tore his ACL in last year.

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Well, the worst-case scenario has indeed struck the Dolphins, as the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports that the “initial diagnosis” is that Delmas has re-torn the ACL in his right knee. If confirmed, this is a crushing blow to the playoff-hopeful Dolphins, who have assembled their best squad on paper in quite some time and would be losing their best coverage safety. With questions at cornerback outside of No. 1 guy Brent Grimes, the Dolphins were counting on their elite safety duo to cover up those mistakes, with Delmas’s work in coverage being particularly important.

Last season, Delmas made very few mistakes, and the 28-year-old veteran wasn’t tested often in coverage. He had just three passes defended after totaling nine in his final season in Detroit, but Delmas still played at an above-average level and continued to show why he is one of the most dependable members of a rising Dolphins defense.

Adding Ndamukong Suh to a defensive line that already included Cameron Wake, Olivier Vernon, and 2014 free agent defensive tackle signing Earl Mitchell will help cover up some of the issues in the secondary, but if the Dolphins next man up can’t do his job, then there may be questions at both FS and CB.

Either Michael Thomas or Walt Aikens will be the man who will take Delmas’s place in the starting lineup, and while neither are replacing a star player, they will be in a tough spot. There will be a lot of pressure on them if Delmas is indeed done for the year with this latest ACL tear, and both will have to prove he’s the right man for the job. The rest of the Dolphins safeties are a mix of even lesser-known commodities.

The Miami Dolphins are better-equipped to handle Delmas’s ACL tear this year than they were last season, since they will have time to prepare and have Suh on their side, in addition to a better offense buoyed by big-name pass-catching acquisitions. But for the Dolphins to make good on their high expectations this time around, they will need Thomas or Aikens to avoid being a liability. They don’t have to be on Delmas’s level, but they can’t afford to get picked on with regularity by opposing quarterbacks.

Thomas is a 25-year-old Stanford product who came into training camp with more hype than Aikens as the oft-injured Delmas’s backup, and yet it is Aikens who is taking the first-team snaps at free safety immediately after the injury. It’s a competition to monitor, though Aikens may offer more upside as a second-year Liberty product who seems to be rising. The Dolphins made him a fourth-round pick at corner but converted him to safety, and he has the physicality to succeed at safety.

I’m not sure who will win this battle, because I very much see it as a competition between both of them. Everyone knew coming into the season that Delmas is an injury-prone player who always deals with nagging knee issues, and after last season’s ACL tear, the Dolphins had to know that another serious injury could be on the horizon. Delmas is a key member of this defense, but you’d have to think that the Dolphins feel comfortable with their backup free safeties with the understanding that they would need to have a strong contingency plan in case of another injury.

Without Delmas, the Dolphins are still playoff-worthy, because worse injuries could have befallen them. I mean, Reshad Jones and Grimes in the secondary alone are better players, and while Delmas’s status as the team’s best coverage safety added to his importance, the Dolphins season isn’t going to be made or broken by this injury. It’s a big blow, but I have a feeling that they are high on their backups.

The real question is “What’s next?”, because Aikens and Thomas now deserve the spotlight with plenty of preseason action still to come.

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