Dolphins to Hold Joint Practices with Bucs
The Miami Dolphins held joint practices prior to two of their three preseason games last summer, and they'll be doing it at least once this year.
The Dolphins and Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be practicing together ahead of their preseason game at Raymond James Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 13, as confirmed by a league source.
Based on precedent, the Dolphins and Buccaneers likely will be practicing together on Wednesday, Aug. 10 and Thursday, Aug. 11.
The practices will give the Dolphins offense and defense the opportunity to work against different players, in this case perhaps guys like Tom Brady, Mike Evans, Devin White, Lavonte David, 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 held joint practices with the Bears in Chicago and with the Atlanta Falcons in Miami ahead of their first two 2021 preseason games.
As we've mentioned before, it certainly would seem logical to expect the Dolphins to hold joint practices with the Las Vegas Raiders ahead of the preseason game at Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 20 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.
The likelihood of joint practices with the Philadelphia Eagles before the preseason finale Aug. 27 would seem lesser, but clearly not out of the realm of possibility.
New Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel said during our one-on-one interview right before the scouting combine that he liked the idea of joint practices.
"It's something I believe in," McDaniel said. "I know that we've done it here in the past and I don't plan on that changing. I think that players enjoy in camp to have the monotony broke a little bit, but also you end up getting to clinic your own team on various schemes that are different from what you're looking at every week. So it's very beneficial and in multiple ways, and it's something that as long as it continues to be in the best interest of the Dolphins we'll definitely do."
