Dolphins Doubling Up on Joint Practices
For the second consecutive year, the Miami Dolphins will be having two sessions of joint practices prior to preseason games in 2022.
Head coach Mike McDaniel confirmed Tuesday that the Dolphins will be practicing with/against both the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Philadelphia Eagles ahead of the teams' preseason matchups.
The new development was the addition of the Eagles, who the Dolphins will face at Hard Rock Stadium in their preseason finale Saturday, Aug. 27.
Based on precedent, this would mean the two days of joint practices with the Eagles would take place Wednesday, Aug. 24 and Thursday, Aug. 25.
The Dolphins and Buccaneers will be practicing together ahead of their preseason game at Raymond James Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 13.
Based on precedent, the Dolphins and Buccaneers likely will be practicing together on Wednesday, Aug. 10 and Thursday, Aug. 11.
An Alabama Reunion
The practices against the Eagles will bring former Alabama quarterbacks Tua Tagovailoa and Jalen Hurts and former Bama wide receivers Jaylen Waddle and DeVonta Smith back on the same field, though they obviously won't be going against each other.
The practices in Tampa, of course, will give the Dolphins the chance to work against future Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady, and Rob Gronkowski if he decides to return for another year.
This will be the second time in three camps the Dolphins have practiced with the Buccaneers; they did it in 2019, also in Tampa.
The Dolphins had joint practices with the Eagles in Philadelphia in the summer of 2017, a few month before the Eagles defeated the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII.
A Different Joint Practice Schedule
Last summer, the Dolphins held joint practices with the Bears in Chicago and with the Atlanta Falcons in Miami.
The only difference this time is that the joint practices will take place before the first and third preseason games, instead of the first and second.
The one preseason game this year that will not be preceded by joint practices will be the one against the Las Vegas Raiders at Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 20.
That actually seemed like the most logical game to be preceded by joint practices given the distance the Raiders will be traveling — they're the first preseason opponent for the Dolphins from more than one time zone away since 2001.
McDaniel said during our one-on-one interview right before the scouting combine that he liked the idea of joint practices, and he repeated those sentiments Tuesday.
“Joint practices are outstanding for everyone involved," he said. "There’s only so far you can go when going against each other before things start to hurt more than they help. Having different schemes, coverages, is incredibly impactful. Having different offenses for run fits and all of that stuff is super impactful.
"Both scenarios I feel very fortunate that things worked out with Coach (Todd) Bowles and Coach (Nick) Sirianni. We’re excited about that and I think our players will be too.”
