No one-on-ones & an extended scrimmage: Inside day one of Dolphins training camp
The first practice under coach Jeff Hafley looked a bit different from years past.
There were no one-on-ones. No seven-on-sevens. And the team spent a lot more time in individual.
Welcome, Dolphins fans, to a new era.
“There’s more team reps in practice which is nice,” right tackle Austin Jackson said. “It’s a little more close together. Previous coach was a lot more segmented, very intentional on certain things. It’s very competitive, very open, very repetitive, which is good in football.”
As Jackson alluded to, the biggest change in practice – outside the lack of ones or sevens – was the flow. An extended team period followed that of individual, something that players actually seemed to like.
“That’s fun though,” running back De’Von Achane said. “That’s good. No more 7-on-7, because the linebackers don’t like that. They like to depend on the d-line. I always give them a hard time about that. But it’s good playing 11-on-11 because that’s what we go out there and play. I’d rather 11-on-11 anyway.”
Added Achane: “I like 11-on-11 because you run the ball. You can’t run the ball in 7-on-7. So I prefer that and I like the o-line being there. I like more realistic. So if it was up to me, I feel like doing 11-on-11 way better.”
Unfortunately, injuries are part of training. And unlike day one of last season, which saw offensive lineman Bayron Matos get airlifted to a local hospital and cornerback Artie Burns suffer a significant knee injury, the Dolphins emerged healthy. Jackson was certainly excited about that after being stepped on during an early part of 2025 training camp caused him to a miss a significant chunk of time.
“Just being healthy and being able to play football is a wonderful feeling,” Jackson said, later adding that he was “a little bummed out I didn’t get all training camp to kind of prepare for the season, and I just went into the ‘be as available as possible’ mode. But going through a full training camp and into the season, I think that that’s exactly what I need every year. It just primes me for what I need to do during the season.”
Even better: practice didn’t end when the final horn sounded. Almost every player decided to hang back to get some extra work. It wasn’t just the rookies or young guys either; linebacker Jordyn Brooks was spotted.
“What’s awesome about that obviously it’s not required, it’s not mandatory,” defensive lineman Zach Sieler said. “Each group has leaders in every group that just want to make sure that their position group is the best for the team, for themselves. The selfish, the jealousy, the ‘me, me, me’ stuff, it’s just to be a better player for the team, and it’s all for the team. And to see guys go out there, to want to hone in their craft for themselves as much as each other, it’s just incredible. When you’re fighting for your brothers and fighting for the men next to you, and you really stress that communication, that bond is impressive.”
Of course this is only day one. It’s easy to have the excitement and energy at the onset. Several players even compared the return to the facility to the first day of school.
“It is like the first day of school,” quarterback Malik Willis said. “It’s the first time we get back and see all our buddies, all our coworkers, I guess, it’s a business. But all the guys are excited to go, and we’ve just got to continue that up throughout camp, through the preseason and taking it into the season, just building confidence and momentum.”
Like Willis said, the momentum has to carry on through training camp and into the regular season. Quite frankly, it’s easy to have all the energy on day one.
But what about day seven? Or day 12? Or even day 17? Consistency, as always, remains key.
“Honestly, we want to make sure that these guys hold on through all camp,” Sieler said. “It’s really easy to be like that on the first day.”
This story was originally published July 29, 2026 at 3:12 PM with the headline "No one-on-ones & an extended scrimmage: Inside day one of Dolphins training camp."
