The Dolphins on Tuesday held their first of five consecutive practices open to reporters, with a Thursday off day their only break this week.
And it was a surreal morning, because midway through practice, the Dolphins were severely punished by the NFL for tampering with Tom Brady and Sean Payton. They must give up their 2023 first-round pick and a 2024 third-round pick, and owner Stephen Ross was fined through mid October and fined $1.5 million.
Meanwhile, here’s how Tuesday’s practice went:
STARS OF THE DAY
️ The pass rushers: Defensive coordinator Josh Boyer unleashed a bunch of blitzes, but even on four-man rushes, the Dolphins defense often got to the quarterbacks on a day that left tackle Terron Armstead sat out 7-on-7 drills.
Melvin Ingram, Cameron Goode, Jevon Holland and Porter Gustis had would-be sacks; God had two. Christian Wilkins, Duke Riley and Kader Kohou flushed quarterbacks out of the pocket.
️ Tyreek Hill: This is a recording. He began practice with a 30-yard catch-and-run from Tua Tagovailoa, then caught another 25-yarder from Tagovailoa and a 20-yarder from Skylar Thompson.
️ Jaylen Waddle: He scampered for 15 yards on a carry and caught a 20-yard pass from Thompson, who has looked very good the past two days.
️ Erik Ezukanma: The rookie receiver caught a long pass and appears to be leading the competition for the No. 4 job receivers.
PLAYS OF THE DAY
️ Sam Eguavoen blew up Myles Gaskin on a rushing attempt.
️ Chase Edmonds scampered through a big hole created by Liam Eichenberg and Connor Williams for a sizable gain on a running play. Edmonds has had a very good camp and look like Miami’s lead back.
️ Tagovailoa delivered another long pass to rookie Ezukanma for the second day in a row. This one traveled about 40 air yards, and Ezukanma took it into the end zone. Rookie corner Kader Kohou was beaten on the play.
Ezukanma has the look of someone who’s ready to get some snaps in a loaded wide receiver room.
NOTABLE
️ Thompson has staked a strong claim to a practice squad job early in camp. His accuracy has been pretty good — including a 20-yarder to Hill and intermediate throws to Cedrick Wilson Jr. and Ezukanma on Tuesday. And he doesn’t make a lot of mistakes.
️ Tagovailoa had another pretty good day, aside from a near interception that Brandon Jones dropped.
He also had one overthrow to Wilson on a sideline throw — Xavien Howard had tight coverage — but was otherwise on target, completing several 10- to 25-yard throws and the deeper one to Ezukanma.
Tagovailoa has thrown just two interceptions in six practices.
️ Teddy Bridgewater was back in 11-on-11 drills after missing Monday’s team drills with a minor injury. He took quarterback snaps behind Tagovailoa.
️ Zach Sieler and Sheldrick Redwine stuffed Salvon Ahmed on a rushing attempt.
️ Mike Gesicki — who was targeted in the passing game only once in the previous two practices — caught a 15-yard pass.
️ Ahmed remains involved in the passing game, just as he was last August. He can take advantage of defenders on wheel routes if he makes the team and gets any playing time.
️ Waddle, Edmonds, Noah Igbinoghene, DeVonte Dedmon and Raheem Mostert worked as returners, in addition to their other responsibilities.
️ Zach Sieler wore the orange practice jersey awarded to the best player in the previous day’s practice.
AVAILABILITY REPORT
️ Byron Jones (lower), Michael Deiter (foot), Adam Butler (undisclosed injury), defensive back Elijah Campbell (non-football injury) and fullback John Lovett (undisclosed injury) remained sidelined.
️ Terron Armstead and Sony Michel were limited as the Dolphins transition them back from offseason procedures. They have both been cleared medically, but the Dolphins are being judicious in their camp usage.
️ Mostert and Alec Ingold — who are coming off 2021 knee surgeries — were in red non-contact jerseys. Both say they will be ready for the regular season opener.
This story was originally published August 2, 2022 12:13 PM.