Dolphins Camp 2022: Aug. 17 Practice Observations
The Miami Dolphins were back at practice Wednesday as they continue to get ready for their preseason game against the Las Vegas Raiders, but more importantly continue their preparations for the regular season.
The practice at the Baptist Health Training Complex took place in front of some guests, most notably Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra and former Dolphins GM Rick Spielman.
With that, let's dive into the practice report:
ATTENDANCE REPORT
The big story here involves not only Jaylen Waddle, whose absence was expected, but also tackle Terron Armstead.
Armstead went into the practice facility very early in the session and was not spotted back out. While his departure could be explained several different ways, he's too important a player not to monitor his status. Raheem Mostert took part in warmups but did take part in team drills.
Along with Waddle, who coach Mike McDaniel said before practice was dealing with a minor issue and is day-to-day, the others who did not practice Wednesday were safety Eric Rowe, linebacker Brennan Scarlett, tackle Greg Little, and fullback John Lovett. All but Lovett did make an appearance at practice.
Tackle Kellen Diesch, cornerback Kader Kohou and safety Sheldrick Redwine all returned after missing time.
Tight end Durham Smythe wore the orange jersey for his performance in practice Tuesday.
PRACTICE TOP PERFORMERS
— Safety Jevon Holland was the undeniable star of the practice, coming up with two interceptions against Tua Tagovailoa along with a pass breakup on a deep throw to Tyreek Hill. One of the two interceptions came in the back of the end zone on a pass attempted for Smythe. This was not exactly out of the ordinary for Holland, who continues to look like an absolute star in the making (at the risk of stating the obvious).
— Sherfield continued his strong work with four more catches in practice, three from Tua Tagovailoa and one from Skylar Thompson. More importantly, he has yet to drop a catchable pass in camp.
— Running back Chase Edmonds has had an impressive camp pretty much all the way throughout so far, and Wednesday was no exception. He caught two short passes in team drills, but more importantly showed great quickness in hitting the hole on running plays.
QB WATCH
Because it’s training camp, we need to talk about the quarterback performances every practice.
— Tagovailoa started off well in his effort to bounce back from his rough performance Tuesday, hitting Tyreek Hill downfield for a 20-yard completion on the first 11-on-11 snap. But it was overall a pretty uneven effort by the third-year quarterback. Based on our unofficial stats, he was 12-for-20 on this day for 146 yards with no touchdowns and the two interceptions by Holland. And while Holland deserves credit for his pass breakup on the long throw to Hill, the reality is the ball just took too long to get there and it allowed Holland to catch up. His longest gain was a play of at least 30 yards to Lynn Bowden Jr., but that play was the result of a pretty clear pick by another Dolphins receiver that likely would have been flagged in a game. His best throw of the down was, as usual, right down the middle, a strike to Trent Sherfield.
-- Teddy Bridgewater made his two best throws of camp on this day even though he ended up completing only 50 percent of his passes (6-for-12) in team periods. The first pretty pass was an outside throw to Hill that he floated about 20 yards downfield before Hill made his cut and hit him in stride. The second was even better — and might even merit consideration for the best pass of camp — as Bridgewater rolled to his left, and while on the move a perfect throw downfield over the head of linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel and into the arms of Mike Gesicki for about a 15-yard gain. He did have one really bad series when he went 0-for-3, though he faced pressure on two of the throws.
— Skylar Thompson got a few more opportunities than he did Tuesday, and his stat line would look an awful lot better if not for better support. As it was, he completed 3 of 6 passes in team periods with one interception, which came when tight end Cethan Carter failed to cleanly catch a perfectly thrown pass and defensive back Elijah Hamilton grabbed the loose ball in midair. And then there was another perfect pass that was dropped downfield by Preston Williams. So technically Thompson should have been 5-for-6 with no picks. That clearly makes a big difference.
OTHER PRACTICE OBSERVATIONS
-- The practice ended rather abruptly with the horn sounding after a Salvon Ahmed run. McDaniel then gathered the team and delivered a spirited speech.
-- The team did 1-on-1 drills before doing 11-on-11 work and some of the highlights from those sessions included: Elijah Campbell successfully defending Mike Gesicki twice, including once when the officials on hand called offensive pass interference; Quincy Wilson reading an Hunter Long double move to force an incompletion out of bounds before Long came back to beat Holland in the end zone; safety Brandon Jones stayed with Cethan Carter through an outside-inside move to force an incompletion; and newcomer Niles Scott pushed back Michael Deiter in a pass-blocking drill.
-- Trent Sherfield again was the most productive receiver at practice with four catches — three from Tagovailoa and one from Thompson.
-- Connor Williams had one high shotgun snap.
-- Continuing our Bowden/Williams watch, Preston Williams had the one drop on the Thompson and also was the intended receiver on Holland's first interception. He did not have a catch. Bowden had the one reception on the play that really looked like OPI.
-- Jason Sanders did not attempt a field goal in this practice.
-- One of the most interesting moments of this practice came early after a Sony Michel running play when Liam Eichenberg faced Christian Wilkins as he returned to the huddle and waved his arms across his body (the incomplete pass signal) before putting his helmet square against Wilkins' helmet. While we don't know for sure, it sure looked like taunting by Eichenberg against a teammate who's known for doing an awful lot of yapping on the field.
-- Noah Igbinoghene had by all appearances a solid practice, the highlight coming when he broke up a Tua pass intended for Hill deep over the middle — though the pass was thrown slightly behind Hill.
-- Andrew Van Ginkel got into the backfield for what looked like might have been a tackle for loss on a running play by Salvon Ahmed.
-- Jaelan Phillips got close to Tagovailoa on a pass play, so we either can score it as a would-be sack or a pressure that cause a throw-away.
-- Along with Williams, fullback Alec Ingold also dropped a pass. It was a short throw over the middle with a defender bearing down on him, the type of throw that leads to a receiver getting belted over the middle.
-- Cameron Goode and Porter Gustin each had a sack against Thompson. That's gotta be at least five sacks in camp for Gustin, who signed in June after spending a few years with the Browns.
-- Wilkins batted down a pass from Tagovailoa later in practice, and then threw Chase Edmonds to the ground for a tackle for loss on a running play.
-- Austin Jackson had a nice seal block on a running play by Edmonds.
