MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Miami Dolphins offensive tackle Terron Armstead is entering Year 11 in his excellent NFL career.
Never once in the previous 10 has Armstead appeared in every one of his team’s regular-season games.
He wants that to change — pronto.
Can Miami Dolphins OL Terron Armstead Stay Healthy?
Few players who have played as long as Armstead has have spent as much time in the training room.
The Dolphins knew his injury history when signing him to a five-year, $75 million contract in 2022 free agency.
And they couldn’t have been surprised when he missed four games last year due to a series of injuries, the most serious of which was to his foot/toe.
Armstead is back at practice — albeit in a limited capacity — after missing Week 1 of training camp due to the lingering effects of an offseason knee scope.
“It was a process,” Armstead said. “I wasn’t trying to get any procedures done, but that one in particular, I really had no other choice. But it was by far the best decision to go ahead and get cleaned up. Feel great.”
Armstead added, “Yeah, they got a plan for me, a program for me. Just trying to stick with it, and we’re progressing, kind of going through a little bit of a slow progression, in my opinion. I’m not arguing over that. I’m here to play. So I would love to go out there and compete. But it’s also Year 11, and I’ve been through training camp before.”
In other words, don’t expect to see a ton of Armstead on the field during training camp.
And don’t expect to see him at all in preseason games.
But if a cleaned-up knee is the extent of his injury concerns this fall, everyone in the building will take it as a win.
On Tuesday, Armstead laid down a marker: No missed games this fall.
“That’s goal No. 1, man,” Armstead said. “Goal No. 1. I’m gonna keep going forward, doing everything I can to make it a reality. I’m here to play, you know; I mean, I’m here to play. That’s goal No. 1. All I’m focusing on right now is today and then the next one and the next one. Not going to look too far ahead.”
The Dolphins have high hopes for 2023. But if 2022 was any indication, their high-powered offense doesn’t work when Armstead isn’t on the field.
In the 11 regular-season games in which the four-time Pro Bowler logged 50% or more of the Dolphins’ offensive snaps, Miami averaged 25.9 points per game, 6.7 yards per play, and allowed a sack once every 22.3 pass attempts.
In the six games in which he didn’t reach that participation rate, the Dolphins’ respective averages were 18.7, 5.3, and 11.9.
“That’s not a secret,” Armstead said. “That’s not a secret. You know, you need your best players to play and play their best. You know what I mean? Especially when you get down into the stretch into the playoffs.
“We want all our best players playing their best football. So me, Tua, Tyreek [Hill], [Emmanuel] Ogbah, David Long now, Christian [Wilkins]. We need our best players to be at our absolute best.”