MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- The Miami Dolphins will have to replace their entire starting secondary from last year after cornerback Kader Kohou suffered a partially torn ACL that will keep him sidelined for the entire 2025 season.
Coach Mike McDaniel said Wednesday that the Dolphins will place Kohou on injured reserve.
Kohou suffered the injury during one-on-one drills early in Saturday's practice and limped to the locker room with a member of the team's medical staff.
"I saw him ascend to a different level [this offseason]," McDaniel said. "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."
Kohou is the second Dolphins cornerback to suffer a season-ending injury during this year's training camp; free agent signee Artie Burns tore his ACL during Miami's first day of camp last week.
Kohou was expected to resume his role as Miami's starting nickelback this season and was the lone returner in an otherwise completely rebuilt secondary.
"Oh man, that one hurt. That one hurt," linebacker Quinton Bell said. "Kader is one of the hardest workers on this team, consistent guy, comes into work every day, doesn't say much and he does his job extremely well. That one hurt, man, but he's our brother and we've got his back. We're praying for him, and I know he'll come back better from this."
The Dolphins released starting cornerback Kendall Fuller in February and traded their other starting outside corner, Jalen Ramsey, to the Pittsburgh Steelers last month. Starting safeties Jevon Holland and Jordan Poyer both left the team in free agency.
Miami signed veteran cornerbacks Cornell Armstrong, Jack Jones and Mike Hilton over the past week to compete with returners such as Cam Smith, Ethan Bonner and Storm Duck.
McDaniel suggested Wednesday that the Dolphins would tap back into the veteran free agent market for another cornerback, but said he is looking at their current group "critically and focusing on them."
"I need them within our scheme to own the techniques and fundamentals so that in every defensive call, there is a strength and weakness," he said. "So within that call, you need to -- whether you have the hard job or the easy job -- you have to execute with dependability and consistency so that the rest of the unit can play off of that. ... Specifically with our defense, which has probably equal to the amount of our offense in terms of the illusion of complexity and the variance and versatility, you need guys that are super consistent with what we're asking players to do.
"It's a consistency and dependability thing within our defense because our strength is how we rush the passer, our strength is how we play together, our strength is how we get to the ball. I'm looking for corners to match safeties to match edge players in that way -- different skills, different tools, different responsibilities but very similar in needing to own one of the 11 spots so the other 10 can depend on it."
Miami's injuries aren't limited to the cornerback position. Among the team's safeties, Ifeatu Melifonwu remains on the non-football injury list and rookie Dante Trader Jr. hasn't practiced this week. Ashtyn Davis suffered a lower leg injury during Tuesday's practice, but McDaniel said it wouldn't keep him out for the season.
Safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, who returned to Miami in the Ramsey trade with the Steelers, is the lone known starter in the secondary after the team's first week of training camp.