Dolphins OTA #2 Highlights
The Miami Dolphins conducted their second OTA of the 2023 offseason Tuesday, but it was the first one open to the media.
Here were the highlights of the practice at the Baptist Health Training Complex:
-- With the preface that all offseason activities outside of the June minicamp are voluntary and that injuries possibly were involved, these were the players who were not spotted at practice: WR Tyreek Hill, DB Trill Williams, T Terron Armstead, C Connor Williams and DT Zach Sieler. Defensive backs Brandon Jones and Nik Needham were in attendance but not practicing as they continue to recover from their 2022 season-ending injuries.
-- The practice featured a good amount of 11-on-11 and 7-on-7 work and the most active player in terms of getting his hands on the ball was rookie third-round pick De'Von Achane, who caught passes from three of the four Dolphins quarterbacks — all but Mike White. Perhaps his most noteworthy catch was a sideline reception where Tua Tagovailoa dropped the ball over a linebacker.
-- Rookie free agent Chris Brooks also had a decent amount of work at running back and looked good. He also looks bigger than any other running back on the roster.
-- That probably was Tua's best pass of the day, though he did have a couple of nice completions over the middle, including one to Jaylen Waddle. Tua also had a nice throw to second-year wide receiver Erik Ezukanma while he was rolling out to his left.
-- Safety Jevon Holland had the one interception on the day when he stepped in front of intended receiver Braylon Sanders on a deep pass down the middle from White.
-- Second-round pick Cam Smith had a nice play early when he came over the top of break up a Mike White pass intended for Ezukanma.
-- The defense had a handful of "sacks," plays where the defensive player likely would have tackled the quarterback had he not stopped — for obvious reasons. Among those with "sacks" were Bradley Chubb, Raekwon Davis, Jaelan Phillips, Aubrey Miller Jr. and Mitchell Agude.
-- Veteran Cedrick Wilson Jr., who is trying to secure the third wide receiver job, had a nice catch over the middle when he reached for a Tua pass.
-- Skylar Thompson's best throw was an outside completion to Braxton Berrios, who also caught a long pass over the middle.
-- Former NFL linebacker NaVorro Bowman, who played for new defensive coordinator Vic Fangio with the San Francisco 49ers, spent some time chatting with new linebacker David Long Jr.
-- XFL cornerback Bryce Thompson made a nice break on a pass by Thompson over the middle, but failed to come down with the interception.
--Veteran Robbie Chosen got behind Justin Bethel on a deep play down the left sideline but Thompson's pass was overthrown.
-- Wide receiver Freddie Swain had the catch of the day when he leaped near the sideline to come down with a pass from White.
