Help, depth on way from injured reserve

Four players are eligible come off IR this month to

DAVIE — The Miami Dolphins have reinforcements coming in the next few weeks.

Four players are eligible to come off injured reserve or the team’s physically unable to perform list this month if the Dolphins decide to activate them, adding a few veterans to the 53-man roster.

Cornerback Cordrea Tankersley, who started 11 games the past two seasons, is working his way back from a torn anterior cruciate ligament injury he suffered to one of his knees last November.

Newly acquired defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche, claimed off the waiver wire after the Arizona Cardinals released him this summer, is also working his way back from an ACL injury he suffered last December.

Nkemdiche, a 2016 first-round pick, contributed 32 tackles and 4.5 sacks and forced one fumble in the 10 games he played for the Cardinals last year before getting hurt. The Dolphins could use him to reinforce the defensive front, which is allowing 160.8 rushing yards per game and 4.7 yards per attempt.

Both Nkemdiche and Tankersley are participating in their second straight week of practice, and Miami can activate either player at any time, but must waive a corresponding player from the 53-man roster to do so.

Even though they each play a position where the Dolphins have a need, coach Brian Flores hinted they weren’t ready for game action yet.

“Both guys are really working hard. Both guys are in good shape. Both guys have improved from last week to this week,” Flores said. “Coming back off of a long, long layoff. It’s [about] getting back into the footwork, hand placement, the bare bones technique [stuff] from a football standpoint. They both need a lot of work there.”

The Dolphins are also able to activate two of the six players on injured reserve, returning them to the 53-man roster. But

Miami must be selective about which of the six players will return from injured reserve, because only two are allowed back.

Miami must declare which players are coming back by having them return to practice eight weeks after they are placed on injured reserve.

Once they begin practicing, it begins a three-week window when the team has to either activate them or place them back on injured reserve.

Rookie linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel, who has been sidelined by a foot injury, was eligible to start practicing this week and could play Nov. 4 at the earliest.

But the Dolphins opted to not have him start his window, which hints that he might be one of the two designated players to return.

The earliest game Van Ginkel would be eligible to play in is Miami’s Nov. 10 road game against the Indianapolis Colts, which would provide the Dolphins’ eight games to test out the former Wisconsin standout.

Julien Davenport, who began the season as Miami’s starting right tackle, broke his leg during an early practice in September and was played on injured reserve. Davenport is eligible to practice next week, and would be able to return from injured reserve on Nov. 11, playing his first game on Nov. 17 against the Buffalo Bills.

A broken leg generally takes six to eight weeks to heal, and then the rehab process begins.

Jonathan Ledbetter, who began the season with the Dolphins’ starting defensive end, suffered an ankle injury in the season’s first game and went on injured reserve. Ledbetter, who contributed four tackles and half a sack in the first and only NFL game he played against the Baltimore Ravens, is eligible to practice next week and can also return from injured reserve on Nov. 11, playing his first game against the Bills.

“It’s been difficult. I like to think of myself as a ball player, an athlete, but when you get taken out of that, when you’re taken out of that realm, that world, you just have to focus on your body and you’re working to get back out there with your brothers it’s difficult,” Ledbetter said. “Right now I’m just taking it one day at a time to be honest.”