Kader Kohou is out for the season with a knee injury, leaving the Miami Dolphins to fill yet another hole in the secondary.
Kohou is their primary nickel cornerback and head coach Mike McDaniel said he was playing the best football of his career before he went down with the injury over the weekend.
“I saw him ascend to a different level (in the offseason),” McDaniel said Wednesday. “The timing of it. … I was crushed until I talked to Kader, and honestly Kader made me feel a little bit better, simply by his mindset.
“You don’t know the whys all the time when things happen, and I get concerned for guys who get stuck in that world of a fixation for ‘opportunities lost.’ Kader’s mindset triggered like that, to where he said, ‘This is tough but I guarantee I’m going to come back better.’ That is the way to approach both the game of football and life.”
Miami traded cornerback Jalen Ramsey to the Pittsburgh Steelers earlier this summer and acquired safety Minkah Fitzpatrick in return. Fitzpatrick is capable of filling a hybrid safety-cornerback role if the Dolphins decide to take that route with their thinned personnel at the defensive back spots.
Kohou was the only returning starter in the secondary from last season. When he was hurt Saturday, the Dolphins signed veteran defensive back Mike Hilton.
Already in the first week of training camp, cornerback Artie Burns suffered a torn ACL and safety Ashtyn Davis left practice on crutches and his left foot was in a walking boot on Tuesday.