MIAMI GARDENS — The Miami Dolphins held a light Tuesday practice indoors without pads that wasn’t as physical as the past two weeks of joint sessions with the Atlanta Falcons and Houston Texans.
There was a lot of action in the passing game, and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, similar to his preseason appearance against the Texans, had to rebound from an interception. And he did.
Tagovailoa’s early interception was a bad decision, throwing deep to the 5-foot-9 Braxton Berrios in double coverage with 6-foot-1 safety DeShon Elliott over the top to make the leaping grab.
The fourth-year left-handed quarterback rebounded after that, though. He found star receiver Tyreek Hill on back-to-back passes of more than 20 yards, once up the seam in the middle of the field and then throwing it up for him deep down the sideline, allowing Hill to outrun undrafted rookie cornerback Ethan Bonner.
While Hill had his moments in the open field, his longtime rival-turned-teammate, cornerback Eli Apple, had tight coverage on him on a fade to the end zone in red-zone drills. Apple, who earlier in camp got beat by Hill in the end zone, got the better of him for a pass deflection Tuesday. Xavien Howard also had tight coverage on him on the other side to force a Tagovailoa throw out of bounds over the back corner.
Aside from Elliott, safety Jevon Holland had an interception on a ricocheted ball that quarterback Skylar Thompson threw to receiver Cedrick Wilson Jr. in tight coverage from Howard.
On a drive where the Dolphins started backed up at the 1-yard line, Tagovailoa had a third-and-7 from the 4 after two plays. He threw once to Robbie Chosen for a first down at the sticks on the sideline, and then he threw to him again deep to complete the drill. Tagovailoa also had red-zone touchdowns to open running backs in the flat, Raheem Mostert and Myles Gaskin. …
Wide receiver River Cracraft had a pass at the goal line from Tagovailoa go through his hands in a situation where there were three seconds left and the ball on the 14-yard line. Erik Ezukanma also dropped a Tagovailoa pass in the end zone. …
Thompson threw a red-zone touchdown to Daewood Davis in 7-on-7. He connected with Berrios for a key first down with the offense backed up. Defensive tackle Josiah Bronson batted a pass from Thompson back at the line of scrimmage. …
Defensive tackle Zach Sieler had at least two sacks, one on each Tagovailoa and Thompson. Andrew Van Ginkel, Raekwon Davis and Malik Reed also had what could be considered practice sacks before a quarterback got rid of a pass. ..
Quarterback James Blackman, who was signed back onto the camp roster Monday and would be the Dolphins’ third quarterback Saturday if Mike White (concussion protocol) can’t play, had an impressive hookup with tight end Elijah Higgins on a corner route of 20-plus yards. …
Elijah Campbell broke up a pass in the end zone from Blackman he felt he should’ve intercepted. He did push-ups afterward. …
While tough to judge the run game without pads on, the defensive front appeared to be winning most matchups, holding runs down for short yardage or tackles for loss, as the unit did on many short passes. …
Salvon Ahmed broke off one nice run in an A gap between Connor Williams and Isaiah Wynn. Linebacker Duke Riley showed impressive pursuit on a tackle for loss to the outside on Ahmed.
Left tackle Terron Armstead was seen out of his walking boot as he watched practice following the lower right leg injury suffered last Thursday in joint practice with the Texans.
Wide receiver Jaylen Waddle (midsection) was seen during team stretch but watched drills.
White (concussion protocol) was throwing on the side during stretches.
Cornerback Cam Smith (shoulder) was out of the red jersey and participating in team drills, although showing discomfort in the right shoulder at times. Left guard Liam Eichenberg returned to team part of practice, as did fullback Alec Ingold and cornerback Ethan Bonner. Cornerback Keion Crossen returned but not in team portions.
Others not practicing were cornerback Jalen Ramsey (knee), safety Brandon Jones (knee), running back De’Von Achane (shoulder) offensive linemen Robert Jones (knee) and Lester Cotton, tight end Eric Saubert, wide receiver Braylon Sanders and cornerback Justin Bethel, who was seen with a brace on his left knee. Cotton was seen doing workouts outside while the team was inside, and Jones was seen walking on crutches with his left leg wrapped after he left Saturday’s exhibition.
Tight end Tanner Conner was activated off the physically-unable-to-perform list Tuesday. Cornerback Nik Needham (Achilles) remains on the PUP list.
Nose tackle Brandon Pili made one play where he maybe got to Thompson for a sack and safety with the offense backed up. The play was allowed to go on, but coach Mike McDaniel called the offense back for a penalty, possibly a hold on the lineman blocking him. Pili, the undrafted rookie out of USC, has gotten a consistent push up front and could be in line for a spot on the initial active roster with the team needing a backup nose guard behind Davis.
River Cracraft had a costly situational drop in a simulation where the game was on the line and Tagovailoa threw a perfect pass to him on the goal line. He brings valued depth to the receiving corps and familiarity with McDaniel’s offense going back to San Francisco. But after he didn’t make the initial 53 last season, he needs to make these kind of plays in camp with more competition in the Dolphins’ receiving corps this year.
