Can Miami Dolphins Overcome Loss of Louis Delmas?

Every team will have their depth tested in one way or another every year, but the Miami Dolphins seem to have their depth tested the same way year after year.

Dolphins safety Louis Delmas tore his right ACL at practice last week, suffering the same season-ending injury for a second straight year. 

One of the Dolphins' biggest issues in 2014 was a lack of depth. Injuries at linebacker and safety turned the roster upside down, forcing backups into starting roles. In some cases, the Dolphins persevered. In others, they struggled.  

Make no mistake: If the Dolphins can stay healthy in 2015, their starting lineup can match up with any of the AFC's playoff contenders. That being said, few teams stay fully healthy for an entire year.

The teams that are lucky enough to finish the season with a similar starting lineup to the one that began the year are often the teams that make playoff pushes and Super Bowl runs (see New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks in 2014). Then, there are the teams that fight their way through turmoil (see Arizona Cardinals and Denver Broncos in 2014). 

Losing Delmas will not be the blow that ends all hope of getting over the hump and into the playoffs. What it will be, however, is the first test of the season for a team that has had its depth exposed in the past.

Injuries happen all the time, but opportunities like this don't come around often. For the Dolphins, this is the second time in less than 10 months that an opportunity is being presented to the young free safeties on the roster.

Player	Ht	Wt	Exp
Walt Aikens	6'1"	210	1
Michael Thomas	5'11"	201	2
Cedric Thompson	6'0"	208	R
Don Jones	5'11"	205	2
Phillip Thomas	6'0"	223	2

The Dolphins have some options with how to proceed. There's Walt Aikens, a 2014 draft pick who is making the switch from cornerback to safety; there's Michael Thomas, a third-year safety who has majored on special teams and minored on defense in his career; and there's Cedric Thompson, a rookie who the Dolphins probably hoped would have some time to develop before being thrust into a prominent role.

"That's the beauty of the NFL," said veteran safety Reshad Jones, per Adam Beasley of the Miami Herald. "It's next man up, next man in line. Our coaches do a great job of preparing each and every individual for those game situations, so I think Walt Aikens or Michael Thomas will be ready."

Beasley indicates that Aikens is the most likely replacement for Delmas, a hypothesis that is supported by Aikens' status in the starting lineup against the Carolina Panthers. That's a big step up from last year, when Aikens played just 64 snaps, the third-fewest snaps of any Dolphins defensive back, according to Pro Football Focus. 

"I'm just out here doing what the coaches ask me to do," Aikens said, per Beasley. "They need somebody to step up. I'm here getting better every day, trying to do whatever I can to help the team."

Aikens took advantage of his opportunity by making some plays in the Dolphins' second preseason game against the Carolina Panthers, forcing a third-down incompletion that stymied a Panthers drive.

He'll have to continue making plays like that to keep his stranglehold of the starting spot. 

Aikens and Thompson have an inherent advantage due to the fact that both men were drafted by general manager Dennis Hickey, while Thomas is a product of the previous regime of Jeff Ireland. That doesn't mean you should count Thomas out of the battle, though; he stepped in as a starter for two games when Delmas went down, but he suffered a season-ending injury of his own that forced the Dolphins to look elsewhere.

Thompson played strong safety in college at Minnesota but is being asked to transition to the free safety spot in Miami. The Dolphins always have the option of keeping Thompson at strong safety and moving Reshad Jones to the free safety spot; it wouldn't be his first time playing that position.

The Dolphins need to be wary not to put the cart before the horse, though, especially if their long-term plans would be jeopardized by a hasty decision like that.

The Dolphins may not know exactly who they are asking to fill that spot, but at least they know what they're looking for. 

"Can they get a guy down in space? Can they tackle a guy when it's 3rd-and-8 and the guy catches a five-yard pass? Those type of things," head coach Joe Philbin said. "We need to see them compete and make plays."

Those can't be the only things the Dolphins are looking for, though. A free safety has to be able to hold up as the last line of defense and must also be well-versed enough in the defensive playbook that he can act as a communicator for the entire secondary and make checks at the line of scrimmage. 

The Dolphins have two more preseason games before they have to come to a decision, but it will be a lot longer before they'll know if they made the right one. 

Unless otherwise noted, all quotes obtained via team news release.