The Miami Dolphins' offseason took an ominous twist, literally, this week with a serious injury to one of the club's key role players.

	Bowens

Representatives for David Bowens confirmed the defensive end suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in a freak accident, when he jumped down off a ladder, after changing a light bulb in his home. Bowens twisted, and landed awkwardly, resulting in the injury.

The knee injury was not yet been announced by the Dolphins organization, which has done virtually everything right in an attempt to construct a roster that might avoid the catastrophic collapses of the last two seasons.

Under the best-case scenario, the four-year veteran will miss the first three months of the 2003 season, and will have to diligently rehabilitate his knee to get back for the latter part of the campaign. And even without any ancillary cartilage damage, Bowens could be lost for the entire season, and force Miami coaches to alter their defensive line plans.

Bowens, 26, has never started a game in four league seasons. But in previous stints with Denver (1999), Green Bay (2000), Washington (2001) and most recently the Dolphins, he has proven to be an excellent No. 3 or No. 4 end.

The former Western Illinois standout is a good pass rusher, plays the run far tougher than most people thought he would when he entered the NFL, and is versatile enough to slide down inside and play tackle in third-down situations. Certainly the injury means Dolphins officials will be forced to shuffle their defensive line rotation and perhaps change some of the personnel on their "sub" third-down packages.

Even when Bowens suffered through injuries in 2002, when he was limited to 1½ sacks, he commanded considerable playing time. He is a very active player with a big motor and an aggressive attitude.

It is not yet certain if Miami will attempt to compensate for Bowens' loss with players already on the roster or will seek to sign one of the few defensive linemen still available in a thin free agent pool.

Bowens was an unrestricted free agent after the '02 season but, after receiving interest from a number of teams, opted to re-sign with the Dolphins for three more years. The contract is worth about $5 million and Bowens could have significantly augmented his compensation this year through incentives, an opportunity likely lost with the injury.

In four seasons, Bowens has appeared in 53 games and has registered 73 tackles, seven sacks and seven pass deflections. Bowens originally entered the league with Denver, as a fifth-round choice in the 1999 draft.

Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer for ESPN.com.