Miami elevates former Alabama guard for playoff game
Two former Alabama prep standouts will be eligible to play for Miami for the first time on Sunday in the Dolphins’ playoff game against the Buffalo Bills.
Miami elevated guard Lester Cotton and running back La’Mical Perine from its practice squad on Saturday, giving them active status for the Super Wild-Card Weekend game.
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Each NFL team is allowed to elevate two players from the practice squad for each game.
The Dolphins’ injury report for this week shows guard Liam Eichenberg will miss the game with a hand injury and assigns questionable playing status to three more offensive lineman.
Running back Raheem Mostert ran for 136 yards in Miami’s previous game against Buffalo on Dec. 17, but he sustained a broken thumb in the Dolphins’ regular-season finale on Sunday and will not play against the Bills.
Cotton has been on Miami’s practice squad since Dec. 20.
Cotton played 23 offensive snaps in Las Vegas’ season-opening game, then made his first NFL start and played all 67 snaps at right guard in the second contest – a 29-23 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sept. 18. After that, Cotton’s action was limited to 40 special-teams plays in eight games.
Las Vegas placed Cotton on injured reserve on Dec. 3 and waived him on Dec. 15.
Cotton entered the NFL as an undrafted rookie after starting for two seasons at Alabama, including for the 2017 CFP national championship team. Cotton came to Alabama as a 2014 Parade All-American and an All-State selection at Central-Tuscaloosa.
Cotton had spent his entire NFL career with the Raiders. He played in one game as a rookie in 2019 and got on the field as a practice-squad callup in four games in 2021. In 2020, Cotton failed to make the regular-season roster coming out of the preseason and was not re-signed for the practice squad as he was in 2019 and 2021.
Perine joined the Dolphins’ practice squad on Oct. 18.
After being released at the end of the preseason by the New York Jets, Perine spent a week on the Philadelphia Eagles’ practice squad in September before joining Miami.
Alabama’s Class 7A Back of the Year at Theodore in 2015, Perine joined the Jets from Florida in the fourth round of the 2020 NFL Draft.
In two seasons with New York, Perine ran for 263 yards and two touchdowns on 72 carries and caught 11 passes for 63 yards in 14 regular-season games.
The Dolphins and the Bills square off at noon CST Sunday at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York. CBS will televise the game.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
