What to Expect This Week at Dolphins Camp

Things are about to heat up at the Baptist Health Training Complex

Miami Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley works with his players during rookie minicamp at the Baptist Health Training Complex. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

It's almost here.

Can you feel it?

Miami Dolphins training camp is just around the corner, and we arrived at an important date on the calendar Tuesday with rookie reporting day.

While we're still a week away from veterans reporting followed the next day by the first practice of camp, this day served as sort of a ceremonial kickoff for what will be an important period for the new-look Dolphins as they prepare for the first season under GM Jon-Eric Sullivan and head coach Jeff Hafley.

Rooks reportin’ 🫡 pic.twitter.com/ShD2haSbkw

— Miami Dolphins (@MiamiDolphins) July 21, 2026

The Dolphins have 24 rookies on their roster, including a league-high 13 draft picks and 11 undrafted rookie free agents.

But the Dolphins also were allowed, per rules of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, to have first-year players also report for training camp Tuesday. By definition, first-year players are those who signed a contract with any team the previous year but do not have a pension-credited season (which requires at least six games on the active roster, IR or PUP).

The Dolphins have 16 first-year players on their roster, putting at 40 the total of players who could have been required to report Tuesday — teams can have first-year players report any time between rookies and veterans reporting next Tuesday.

And then there's the case involving veterans.

OTHER DOLPHINS PLAYERS WHO COULD REPORT THIS WEEK

Dolphins rookie and first-year players might not be the only ones reporting this week because CBA rules allow teams to bring in veteran quarterbacks and injured players as early as five days before the overall reporting day, which would mean Thursday.

The definition of "injured" player under the CBA includes any player who ended last season on IR or PUP, underwent offseason surgery or sustained some kind of injury during the offseason program.

That opens up quite a list for the Dolphins.

Players who ended last season on IR and are still with the team include Storm Duck and JuJu Brents. Those who underwent offseason surgery, according to Hafley, include Austin Jackson and De'Von Achane.

And then there are those veterans who missed time during spring practices, such as newcomers Darrell Baker Jr., Robert Beal Jr. and Jamaree Salyer.

Now, this is where we point out the Dolphins don't have to require all of those players to report early, simply that the CBA rules allow them to do that.

WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR THIS WEEK

One of the important aspects of players reporting to camp is finding out which ones will or won't be ready to begin practicing on time.

The most obvious player worth monitoring at this time is rookie wide receiver Chris Bell, whose final season at Louisville ended prematurely because of a torn ACL.

He did not take part in any of the spring practices, instead doing rehab work on the side, and seems like a logical candidate to start training camp on PUP.

Announcements of players being placed on PUP could come at any time this week — two years ago, for example, the Dolphins announced that Jaelan Phillips and Bradley Chubb were among four players being placed on PUP a week before the first practice of camp.

As a reminder, any player placed on PUP for the start of camp can be taken off the list at any time before the cuts to 53. On roster cutdown day, which this year will be Sunday, August 30, teams have to decide whether they remove a player from PUP, put him on Reserve/PUP and sideline him for four weeks, put him on IR for the year, or waive/release him.