Miami Dolphins Stock Report (Practice 4)

We’d like to welcome Tyreek Hill back to the Miami Dolphins offense.

Whoever showed up wearing jersey number 10 for the first week of training camp was an imposter because Hill didn’t resemble the player who contributed 1,710 receiving yards and scored eight touchdowns on 119 receptions in 2023.

Hill, who had been struggling with drops in practice the first week, caught a deep pass from Tua Tagovailoa in Miami’s first 11-on-11 period, and was impactful on this red-zone-specific day.

Top play: Mike White’s deep pass to Jaylen Waddle opened up practice, and set the tone for the day. White says the Dolphins offense caught the defense in the right coverage, and found a zone beater. You can tell it was a riddle Mike McDaniel had been working to solve.

Top performers

1. QB Tua Tagovailoa - Tagovailoa was surgical Sunday. He was carving up the Dolphins defense during every session in the practice that followed the embarrassing 12-sack performance the defense delivered Friday. It was touchdown after touchdown during Miami’s red zone work. That’s what you want to see from your quarterback. When adversity surfaces, your quarterback needs to respond to it. I’ve seen this consistently from Tagovailoa, so I’m not surprised. The only concern I have about Tagovailoa’s performance Sunday was that he held on to the ball too long during 11-on-11 red zone work inside the 7, which was the last team period, and took too many would-be sacks. I get it. It’s practice. But it’s OK to throw the ball away. Tagovailoa’s history of holding on to the ball too long, trying to make something happen, is how he’s usually gotten hurt playing football. It’s the lone criticism Alabama coach Nick Saban has had about Tagovailoa since his Crimson Tide days.

2. QB Mike White - Based on the people who have watched him practice in Dallas and New York, I’ve been told White is not going to impress me, and that he’s a gamer. When the bright lights turn on, White is supposedly going to rise to the occasion. That seemed to be the case Sunday because White took the very first snap of 11-on-11 practice in front of a bleacher filled with fans and delivered a beautiful 50-yard pass to Waddle. The ball went 46 yards in the air, which was a flex that should silence the arm strength queens who point out he’s got the weakest arm in camp (my hand is raised for being guilty). This battle between White and Skylar Thompson is far from over, but White just won his first round.

3. ILB David Long Jr. - I’m warming up to Long because he’s quick at diagnosing plays, and plugs holes fast. There were a number of running plays where Long would have been in position to make a tackle in the backfield. I also believe he had a deflection during practice. His range is respectable, and being able to see how much zone Miami plans to use helps me understand why Miami needed to move on from Elandon Roberts, who signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers as a free agent. Obviously, this was all done without pads, which come on Monday. That’s when the true tests for trench players, linebackers and tailbacks begin. I'm dying to see if Long can shed blocks and Metrorail tailbacks to the quarterback.

Stock down

WR Robbie Chosen

I named Chosen the Dolphins' biggest offseason addition from the spring work out of everyone who practiced [Jalen Ramsey didn't] because he delivered eye-opening catches. That kind of performance had me confident he’d become Miami’s No. 3 receiver. Boy, was I wrong. It’s time to put an APB out on Chosen because he’s been invisible since training camp started. I can recall him making one catch in the four practices the Dolphins have held. He’s sparingly getting reps, so maybe this has to do with a nagging injury. Maybe it’s a playbook issue. It’s super early, but at this point Chosen is forgotten, and if that doesn’t change he’s not going to be chosen for Miami’s 53-man roster.