Week 17 has finally arrived after a long holiday week full of football. Plenty of postseason situations have yet to be settled, and while the Cleveland Browns are out of the playoffs entirely, they're going to be involved in another team's postseason fate.
The Miami Dolphins currently sit at 7-8, and are in a group with the Cincinnati Bengals and Indianapolis Colts in trying to fight for the final spot in the AFC playoff picture by winning out and hoping other dominos fall for them in Week 17 and 18 that are out of their control.
If the Dolphins win, they have a 15 percent chance of advancing to the postseason. If they lose, though, they'll fall to a less than one percent chance of making it. They, along with Bengals and Colts, have to take these last two matchups seriously to just give themselves a fighting chance at a Wild Card slot.
Injuries ahead of Week 17
Unfortunately for Miami, though, they're going to be severely shorthanded in Week 17 as the team has listed Tua Tagovailoa as doubtful with a hip injury. It's expected that his backup, Tyler Huntley, will be suiting up for the Dolphins against the Browns in Cleveland. For the Browns, they're technically shorthanded again with Dorian Thompson-Robinson - their third string QB - starting.
But, in addition to those QB updates, the Browns also listed David Njoku, Cedric Tillman, and Ogbo Okoronkwo as out for the contest. This means that Thompson-Robinson has two less targets to look for, and will need to form some better chemistry with Jerry Jeudy and Elijah Moore quickly to even get close to winning.
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Defensively, losing Okoronkwo is a big loss. It does mean more minutes for Mike Hall Jr. and Jowon Briggs, which is a good thing for developing those two rookies, but a bad thing for stopping what's sure to be a run-heavy offense from the Dolphins.
Here's a full list of Cleveland's inactives ahead of Week 17:
Our inactives for Week 17 against the Dolphins pic.twitter.com/4nugn3rmec
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) December 29, 2024
The Dolphins also officially ruled out Tagovailoa, Anthony Walker Jr., Jaylen Waddle, Nik Needham, Mohamed Kamar, Andrew Meyer, and Erik Ezukanma for the contest.
This is also all assuming that the Browns are even trying to win this game. They're currently slotted to pick fifth overall in the 2025 NFL Draft, and they could move up to at least four by the end of Week 17 if they lose. While Cleveland's current regime has said they're not exactly ramping up for another rebuild, they could really use a high level talent like who might be available in the top 4 of the draft.