Dolphins Camp 2022 Day 12: Practice Observations
In this story:
The Miami Dolphins conducted their final practice at the Baptist Health Training Complex on Sunday before heading out to Tampa for joint practices with the Buccaneers.
There were big plays made on both sides of the ball, with a rookie free agent shining on defense and nice throws by all three quarterbacks.
Rookies Cameron Goode and Deandre Johnson were given the task on this day of firing up the fans before practice started.
With that, let's dive into the practice report:
ATTENDANCE REPORT
Veteran punter Thomas Morstead returned to practice to do the holding on Jason Sanders' first goal attempts, while the rest of the injury list remained the same.
It includes safety Sheldrick Redwine, safety Clayton Fejedelem, offensive lineman Michael Deiter and fullback John Lovett, along with DB Elijah Campbell.
Tackle Terron Armstead and linebacker Elandon Roberts were given a load management day.
Cornerback Xavien Howard wore the orange jersey as the top practice player Saturday. Fullback Alec Ingold continued wearing a red (no-contact) jersey.
PRACTICE TOP PERFORMERS
— Rookie safety Verone McKinley came to the Dolphins with a reputation for being around the ball, and he certainly did that Sunday. He recovered a fumble by Gerrid Doaks on a running play and later came up with perhaps the best play of camp so far when he provided deep one-on-one coverage against Jaylen Waddle, tipped a long pass by Skylar Thompson and caught the deflection for his second interception in two practices.
— Wide receiver Trent Sherfield has had a steady but overall unremarkable camp, but he was noticeable Sunday when he caught three passes. The highlight was a long completion from Tua down the middle of the field that would have produced a long gain in a game situation.
— Edge defender Darius Hodge was noticeable in team drills, breaking up a short pass intended for Durham Smythe and later stuffing Doaks on a running play.
QB WATCH
Because it’s training camp, we need to talk about the quarterback performances every practice.
— Tua Tagovailoa rebounded nicely after a rough practice Saturday. He completed 11 of 17 passes in team periods, with two touchdowns and one interception — though the interception came in an end-of-game simuation where the offense had to score on the final play and he just chucked it in desperation. The play that drew the most attention at practice — and simultaneously on Twitter — was a long pass to Tyreek Hill over Xavien Howard down the right sideline, but the official closest to the play immediately ruled it an incompletion because Hill was out of bounds. Tua's two best throws were one over the middle — Tua's forte — to Trent Sherfield over the middle down the field that might have gone for a very long touchdown with YAC and a short touchdown pass to Cedrick Wilson Jr. where he rolled to his right and threw a strike against his body. Tua did have a nice 30-yard throw to Hill on a deep out late in practice. Tua did have a couple of misfires early in the team periods, usually throwing too high. Tua also had an incompletion when Hill dropped a pass over the middle with Jevon Holland zeroing in on him — a play that would have been ugly and resulted in a big hit in a game.
-- What stood out about Teddy Bridgewater's day was that he had a couple of bad exchanges, including one where he dropped the ball, fell on it and was touched down. Bridgewater completed 6 of 9 passes in team periods, including a deep completion down the right sideline to Hill that was almost identical to that of Tua, though Hill was able to stay in bounds to make the catch on this one. Bridgewater also had a nice completion for about 20 yards to River Cracraft over a defender. One of his incompletions came off a naked bootleg when his receiver was covered and he threw the ball away.
— Rookie Skylar Thompson didn't have a highlight bomb like Tagovailoa or Teddy Bridgewater, though he had the best pass of the day. It came when he had to quickly step up in the pocket to avoid pressure and before being able to completely set his feet threw a beauty over a defender on a deep out to Preston Williams. Thompson finished the day 6-for-10 with one interception, which came on McKinley's incredible play.
OTHER PRACTICE OBSERVATIONS
-- Because of his tweet Monday night, we have to continue keeping tabs on Preston Williams, who had the one catch on that great pass by Thompson. He also had another catch, on a short outside throw from Tagovailoa.
-- Good news regarding Connor Williams and the shotgun snap issues, as he had a clean day in that department. Adam Pankey had a couple that were a tad high, but nothing egregious.
-- Jason Sanders went 6-for-7 on field goal attempts, with a long of 55 yards and his one miss coming from 42 yards out.
-- Rookie free agent corner Kader Kohou again was very strong in 1-on-1 passing drills. One of his stops came against Jaylen Waddle.
-- Raekwon Davis met Raheem Mostert at the line of the first play in team periods.
-- Benito Jones had a tackle for loss on a running play by Salvon Ahmed.
-- Kohou also did a good job of fighting off a block by rookie Braylon Sanders on a running play by Hill.
-- Keeping in mind that pass rushers stop before hitting the quarterback, we counted seven plays that could have ended in sacks in a game. Those credited with sacks from this vantage point were Andrew Van Ginkel, Jaelan Phillips, Christian Wilkins, Emmanuel Ogbah, Zach Sieler, Sam Eguavoen and Owen Carney Jr.
-- Igbinoghene broke up a pass intended for Cracraft.
