Dolphins set to hold joint practices with Bears, Lions and Jaguars
The Miami Dolphins will hold joint practices against all three preseason opponents the team plays in August.
It was previously disclosed that the Dolphins would host the Jacksonville Jaguars for a series of joint practices leading up to the exhibition season finale. But on Thursday the Chicago media was informed that the Chicago Bears would hold joint practices with the Dolphins at Halas Hall, the team’s training camp facility, and the Dolphins will also hold at least one practice session with the Detroit Lions.
Date and time for all three preseason games were announced on Thursday. Miami will play the Bears at Soldier Field on Aug. 10 at 1 p.m., then face the Detroit Lions at Ford Field on Aug. 16 at 1 p.m., a week before hosting the Jaguars at Hard Rock Stadium on Aug. 23 at 7 p.m.
The dates and times of the four joint practices Miami will participate in have not been announced, but teams usually do joint practices two days before the exhibition game, leaving the day before the game for the body to rest and recover. Miami will do at least one practice with all three teams, and there’s an opportunity to double-up on a practice with one opponent.
Whether the public can attend these practices — or if they will be invite-only — has not been clarified.
The last time the Dolphins held joint practices with the Bears at Halas Hall, which was in 2020, the practices were invite-only for Bears season-ticket holders. The joint practices the Dolphins have hosted are generally open to the public.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel is a huge fan of joint practices, which have become the norm in the NFL since four joint practices in the preseason are allowed. Sometimes teams hold back-to-back joint practices, setting up the preseason game that’s typically played on Friday or Saturday.
Not only does a joint practice allow both teams to gauge where their progress is, it gives starters the opportunity to go head-to-head for a little taste of game action, without the going to the ground element.
However, there are risks involved in joint practices. Two years ago receiver Jaylen Waddle broke his ribs in a joint practice, and last season Pro Bowl receiver Tyreek Hill sustained the wrist injury that lingered all season in Miami’s joint practices with the Washington Commanders.
Last year the Dolphins hosted joint practices against the Washington Commanders and traveled to hold joint practices against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Dolphins have typically used the joint practices to have their starters get most of the daily work, and left the preseason game to the backups and roster long-shots.
Both the Jaguars and the Bears feature first-time head coaches. The Bears hiring Ben Johnson, a former Dolphins assistant who worked his way up the NFL as a member of Dan Campbell’s coaching staff in Detroit. The Jaguars hired Liam Coen, who was hired from Tampa Bay, where he was part of Todd Bowles’ coaching staff. Campbell, who served as the Dolphins’ interim head coach, possesses one of the NFL’s more physical teams, which means that would provide the Dolphins a decent test for the offensive and defensive line.
“You sign up in a joint practice if you have relationships with head coaches, you can kind of forecast what they’re trying to get out of practice,” McDaniel said in mid-August. “I think it’s important that you can kind of find different teams you kind of see practice the same way so that you have the tempo similar so that you can push guys in the right way but it can be organized, constructive work as opposed to who wins each and every play.”
This story was originally published May 22, 2025 at 10:37 AM.
