Dolphins Chicago Practice Wednesday Observations
LAKE FOREST, Illinois — Highlights, lowlights and observations for the Miami Dolphins in the first of two joint practices with the Chicago Bears at Halas Hall in Lake Forest, Illinois:
-- Along with the players Brian Flores mentioned before practice, safety Brandon Jones also sat out the joint practice.
-- Tight end Mike Gesicki was back in action after missing a week while on the Reserve/COVID-19 list. Edge defender Jaelan Phillips also was back at practice after missing about a week with a minor injury.
-- Tight end Hunter Long did not practice, but he was at practice wearing his jersey and he did not have anything on his left leg, which he injured in practice Sunday.
-- Cloudy conditions made it seem as though the practice was taking place at night. That was before a one-hour lightning delay that brought everybody inside. The players eventually did another stretching session inside and did some 11-on-11 work before returned outside after one hour.
-- Tight end Adam Shaheen renewed acquaintances with some members of the Bears staff. Shaheen spent two seasons with Chicago before the Dolphins acquired him in a trade last summer.
-- The offensive line again had, from left to right, Austin Jackson, Liam Eichenberg, Michael Deiter, Robert Hunt and Jesse Davis. Eichenberg was replaced in the later portion of practice by Solomon Kindley after a couple of bad reps.
-- Tua Tagovailoa had overall a pretty solid day, but he was particularly impressive in the first 11-on-11 drill when he had a nice completion down to the middle to Mack Hollins and came back later with a quick slant, again to Hollins.
-- On the other side of the indoor field in an 11-on-11, John Jenkins had a nice stick on a running play. The veteran becoming more of a factor as training camp progresses.
-- Malcolm Brown got some snaps with the first-team offense and had a couple of nice runs. He looked most impressive of any Dolphins running back.
-- On the flip side, the pass-catching issues of rookie seventh-round pick Gerrid Doaks that we've documented continued, as he dropped an easy pass from Jacoby Brissett in a 7-on-7 goal-line drill.
-- Earlier in that drill, Tua threw touchdown passes to Adam Shaheen and Hollins, who punctuated his catch in the back of the end zone with a dunk over the crossbar. That's become something of a tradition for him, though we might question him doing it in a joint practice.
-- Cornerback Javaris Davis had an eventful day; he picked off rookie first-round pick Justin Fields in a 7-on-7 drill, later had a nice pass breakup, but then was victimized on a long completion from Fields to Jon'Vea Johnson. Davis, the cousin of former Dolphins first-round pick Vontae Davis, has had a solid camp.
-- Jakeem Grant continued his nice training camp. He had a couple of catches in 7-on-7 and got open deep behind the Chicago defense, though Tua overthrew him.
-- Jaylen Waddle looked good running at practice and came up with a couple of nice catches, one when he went low to make the grab and the other that he caught behind him.
-- Highlights of one-on-one battle between Bears defensive linemen and Dolphins offensive linemen included Jesse Davis standing up Khalil Mack, Robert Hunt completely stoning Akiem Hicks. On the flip side, Austin Jackson had a hard time with the Bears defenders.
-- Xavien Howard's ankle injury appears to be a thing of the past. He appeared to take every rep with the first-team defense on this day and had great coverage downfield on a deep attempt to Darnell Mooney. Howard had a pick during an 11-on-11 but it came on a play where Emmanuel Ogbah jumped offside.
-- Robert Foster, who has been more quiet in recent days after a great start to camp, dropped a pass from Jacoby Brissett but later came back to make a brilliant catch when he reached behind and top-tapped down the left sideline.
-- The Bears defense got good pressure on Tua in the later 11-on-11 drills.
-- Rookie safety Jevon Holland had a pick on a play where Andrew Van Ginkel got good pressure on Andy Dalton.
-- Jamal Perry came up with an interception, but later was deep in coverage with Nate Holley when Justin Field threw a long touchdown pass to Johnson.
-- Brissett did not have a particularly impressive practice, as his accuracy seemed a bit off.
-- There were no skirmishes in the practice; the closest thing came when Allen Hurns caught a pass from Brissett down the middle of the field and DB Teez Tabor made contact with him around the head area. Hurns fell and walked right over to Tabor after getting up, drawing a crowd of players on both sides. No punches were thrown.
