Dolphins Camp 2022 Day 4: Practice Observations
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The Miami Dolphins had their first practice in front of fans Saturday morning and they kicked things off in style.
With the crowd already standing and applauding as the players lined up for stretching, Tyreek Hill grabbed a microphone and delivered a message to the fans before doing a standing backflip.
Then rookie free agent offensive lineman Blaise Andries pumped up the crowd, wrestling style, before smashing two cans of energy drinks against each side of his head.
And with that practice began.
So let's dive into the practice report:
ATTENDANCE REPORT
The two injured players were out again — defensive lineman Adam Butler and guard/center Michael Deiter — and offensive tackle Terron Armstead got another load management day off, his second in three days.
Running back Sony Michel and fullback Alec Ingold were back after getting the day off Friday, though Ingold was wearing a no-contact red jersey. He's coming off a torn ACL sustained last year while with the Las Vegas Raiders.
Also in attendance were several Dolphins alumni, including Hall of Famers Larry Csonka and Larry Little, along with Dick Anderson, Ronnie Brown, Oronde Gadsden, Jeff Cross, Bob Brudzinski, Mark Higgs and James Pruitt.
PRACTICE TOP PERFORMERS
— Fans who wanted Tua Tagovailoa and Hill put on a show at practice got their wish. By one official account (mine), Tua completed 10 of 12 passes in team drills with the highlight clearly being his perfectly thrown deep pass to Hill for a 70-yard touchdown after Hill got behind Noah Igbinoghene. Hill had four catches on the day, with three of them going for at least 25 yards.
-- Running back Chase Edmonds continued to show great quickness and cutting ability on rushing attempts.
— Stop us if you've heard this one before, but Jaelan Phillips again got himself noticed with one would-be sack and one pressure.
QB WATCH
Because it’s training camp, we need to talk about the quarterback performances every practice.
— We've already addressed the performance of Tua, who was on target all day, starting with one-on-one passing drills, though those don't have nearly as high a degree of difficulty with an open field in front of the quarterback.
— Teddy Bridgewater completed 5 of 9 passing attempts on a day but had no completions downfield., He attempted two long passes on his final two 11-on-11 throws, but neither came close to being a completion. Bridgewater also did have a long completion on a deep corner route intended for Waddle, but the pass went off Waddle's fingertips.
— Skylar Thompson attempted only two passes in 11-on-11 work, with one completion — a 15-yard hook-up with Trent Sherfield.
OTHER PRACTICE OBSERVATIONS
-- In what is becoming an alarming trend, Connor Williams had two more high shotgun snaps. One came on a running play and disrupted the timing of the handoff from Tua to Chase Edmonds.
-- Running back Gerrid Doaks, whose pass-catching issues from last year hadn't resurfaced to this point, dropped an easy swing pass from Thompson.
-- While Igbinoghene gave up some long completions, including the long touchdown, we need to keep in mind that being asked to cover Hill one-on-one in the open field is a major ask for any corner.
-- Rookie free agent Braylon Sanders came up with a circus one-handed grab reaching behind during the 1-on-1 passing drill.
-- Xavien Howard showed (again) his elite coverage skills during that drill when he shadowed Hill all the way down the field to force an incompletion, then stay right on top of Jaylen Waddle through a couple of moves, even though Waddle was able to make a tough catch on a short pass from Tua.
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