News, highlights, observations, injury updates from Dolphins practice on Sunday
News, notes and highlights from Dolphins training camp practice on Sunday:
▪ The Dolphins remain without a slew of defensive backs -- Kader Kohou and Artie Burns (both out for the year), safety Dante Trader Jr. (leg injury), safety Ashtyn Davis (out long term), cornerbacks Jason Marshall Jr. and Cam Smith, the former second-round pick whom Mike McDaniel made clear needs to be on the field to be evaluated.
Trader and Marshall were riding stationary bicycles on Sunday.
Also out: tight end Jalin Conyers (leg injury; out indefinitely), offensive lineman Austin Jackson (he got stepped on; expected to be back for the regular season opener), linebacker Jaelan Phillips (expected to miss a day or two with a bone bruise).
The Dolphins did get one safety back on Sunday: safety Ifeatu Melifonwu, who came off the non-football injury list but did not participate in 11 on 11 drills.
▪ Fullback Alec Ingold fell to the ground and was attended to by Dolphins staffers for several minutes before getting up and walking to the locker room under his own power, without a limp. He is now in concussion protocol... Center Andrew Meyer left without a limp.
▪ Storm Duck was wearing the orange jersey bestowed on the best player in the previous day’s practice. He has arguably been the Dolphins’ best cornerback in training camp.
▪ Here’s what happened on the first set of 11 on 11 drills: Rookie Kenneth Grant stopped De’Von Achane for no gain... .Linebacker Quinton Bell and defensive lineman Zach Sieler stopped Achane behind the line of scrimmage on a screen... Achane then dragged linebacker Tyrel Dodson for a four-yard gain....
Aaron Brewer snapped a ball over Tagovailoa’s head and the play was called dead.... Alexander Mattison had a physical run up the gut for five yards... Jaylen Wright had a nice scamper for eight yards.... Safety Elijah Campbell brilliantly read a running play, limiting it to no gain.
▪ Big play alert: Safety Jordan Colbert intercepted Zach Wilson and returned it for a touchdown. It was a terrible throw by Wilson.
▪ Linebacker Cam Goode had a second consecutive good day, making a couple of plays to ruin Quinn Ewers plays.
▪ More from 11 on 11 work: Ollie Gordon II had carries of two yards and five yards. He has had a good camp, but is likely running fourth behind Achane, Mattison and Wright. Mattison has been the best back among the backups.
▪ In the second cycle of 11 on 11s, Tagovailoa completed a 9-yard pass to tight end Julian Hill... Jaylen Waddle then snagged a Tagovailoa pass out of the air with one hand, for a 15-yard gain....
Mattison ran into Tagovailoa, torpedoing the next play... Tyreek Hill took a short screen from Tagovailoa and scampered for about 10 yards.... Wilson then threw an incomplete pass, to nobody in particular... Linebacker Willie Gay Jr. then snuffed out a quarterback screen, limiting the play to no gain. He has made at least one big play every day.
▪ Wilson completed a 20-yarder to tight end Julian Hill... Ewers then hit rookie receiver Monaray Baldwin for a 15-yard gain. Baldwin has come on strong in recent days.... Theo Wease Jr., who was the best of the rookie receivers during the first week of camp, had an impressive block to keep Ewers upright... Ewers then hit rookie receiver Andrew Armstrong for 11 yards.
▪ The Dolphins then ran a hurry up drill, with Tagovailoa hitting Tyreek Hill for 30 yards and then Hill for another 10 yards. Hill then caught an eight-yard pass before an incomplete pass from Tagovailoa.
▪ During Wilson’s hurry-up opportunity, he hit tight end Pharoah Brown for a 10-yard gain... Quinton Bell then pressured Wilson, forcing an incompletion....
Wilson hit Dee Eskridge for a 14-yard gain, then spiked the ball to stop the clock. Jason Sanders then hit a 53-yard field goal. (He hit three additional field goals and is believed to have not missed one in camp.)
▪ Mike Hilton stopped Jaylen Wright for no gain during a set of plays that the Dolphins were running deep in their end zone. It looked like a safety... Those series of plays were marred by two false starts... Tanner Conner filled in for Ingold after Ingold left practice with the concussion symptoms.
▪ During the third set of 11 on 11 drills, Tagovailoa hit Achane for a 10-yard screen. Julian Hill had a good block... Chubb stopped Achane for a loss of one on a red zone running play, then sacked Tagovailoa.
▪ During Wilson’s third set of 11 on 11 work, he scrambled for five yards before Ewers entered.
Mike Hilton sacked Ewers, who threw the pass anyway and completed it to Theo Wease Jr. for a touchdown. It was unclear whether the team called it a sack or a TD; because there’s no tackling, these are all judgment calls.
▪ Big play alert: Tagovailoa threw his first interception of camp; Minkah Fitzpatrick picked it off in the end zone, after reading Tagovailoa’s eyes, and returned the ball 80 yards. It might have been a touchdown had Fitzpatrick continued on.
▪ Tagovailoa then responded with a 10-yard TD to Nick Westbrook-Ikhine... Erik Ezukanma then dropped a potential TD pass.... Red zone drills continued with Wilson hitting Tahj Washington for a touchdown.
This story was originally published August 3, 2025 at 10:39 AM.
