Are these open practices? Will we get reports throughout the week once they start? And I guess the most important question is whether or not Travis gets two free vacations out of this scrimmage process...LOL!
In other news, there's a tropical storm forming below Cuba...so it's a good week for the Fins to be away.
Dolphins Chicago Practice Wednesday Observations Highlights, lowlights and anecdotes from the Dolphins joint practice with the Chicago Bears LAKE FOREST, Illinois — Highlights, lowlights and observations for the Miami Dolphins in the first of two joint practices with the Chicago Bears at Halas Hall in Lake Forest, Illinois: -- Along with the players Brian Flores mentioned before practice, safety Brandon Jones also sat out the joint practice. -- Tight end Mike Gesicki was back in action after missing a week while on the Reserve/COVID-19 list. Edge defender Jaelan Phillips also was back at practice after missing about a week with a minor injury. -- Tight end Hunter Long did not practice, but he was at practice wearing his jersey and he did not have anything on his left leg, which he injured in practice Sunday. -- Cloudy conditions made it seem as though the practice was taking place at night. That was before a one-hour lightning delay that brought everybody inside. The players eventually did another stretching session inside and did some 11-on-11 work before returned outside after one hour.l -- Tight end Adam Shaheen renewed acquaintances with some members of the Bears staff. Shaheen spent two seasons with Chicago before the Dolphins acquired him in a trade last summer. -- The offensive line again had, from left to right, Austin Jackson, Liam Eichenberg, Michael Deiter, Robert Hunt and Jesse Davis. Eichenberg was replaced in the later portion of practice by Solomon Kindley after a couple of bad reps. -- Tua Tagovailoa had overall a pretty solid day, but he was particularly impressive in the first 11-on-11 drill when he had a nice completion down to the middle to Mack Hollins and came back later with a quick slant, again to Hollins. -- On the other side of the indoor field in an 11-on-11, John Jenkins had a nice stick on a running play. The veteran becoming more of a factor as training camp progresses. -- Malcolm Brown got some snaps with the first-team offense and had a couple of nice runs. He looked most impressive of any Dolphins running back. -- On the flip side, the pass-catching issues of rookie seventh-round pick Gerrid Doaks that we've documented continued, as he dropped an easy pass from Jacoby Brissett in a 7-on-7 goal-line drill. -- Earlier in that drill, Tua threw touchdown passes to Adam Shaheen and Hollins, who punctuated his catch in the back of the end zone with a dunk over the crossbar. That's become something of a tradition for him, though he might question him doing it in a joint practice. -- Cornerback Javaris Davis had an eventful day; he picked off rookie first-round pick Justin Fields in a 7-on-7 drill, later had a nice pass breakup, but then was victimized on a long completion from Fields to Jon'Vea Johnson. Davis, the cousin of former Dolphins first-round pick Vontae Davis, has had a solid camp. -- Jakeem Grant continued his nice training camp. He had a couple of catches in 7-on-7 and got open deep behind the Chicago defense, though Tua overthrew him. -- Jaylen Waddle looked good running at practice and came up with a couple of nice catches, one when he went low to make the grab and the other that he caught behind him. -- Highlights of one-on-one battle between Bears defensive linemen and Dolphins offensive linemen included Jesse Davis standing up Khalil Mack, Robert Hunt completely stoning Akiem Hicks. On the flip side, Austin Jackson had a hard time with the Bears defenders. -- Xavien Howard's ankle injury appears to be a thing of the past. He appeared to take every rep with the first-team defense on this day and had great coverage downfield on a deep attempt to Darnell Mooney. Howard had a pick during an 11-on-11 but it came on a play where Emmanuel Ogbah jumped offside. -- Robert Foster, who has been more quiet in recent days after a great start to camp, dropped a pass from Jacoby Brissett but later came back to make a brilliant catch when he reached behind and top-tapped down the left sideline. -- The Bears defense got good pressure on Tua in the later 11-on-11 drills. -- Rookie safety Jevon Holland had a pick on a play where Andrew Van Ginkel got good pressure on Andy Dalton. -- Jamal Perry came up with an interception, but later was deep in coverage with Nate Holley when Justin Field threw a long touchdown pass to Johnson. -- Brissett did not have a particularly impressive practice, as his accuracy seemed a bit off. -- There were no skirmishes in the practice; the closest thing came when Allen Hurns caught a pass from Brissett down the middle of the field and DB Teez Tabor made contact with him around the head area. Hurns fell and walked right over to Tabor after getting up, drawing a crowd of players on both sides. No punches were thrown. BY ALAIN POUPART https://www.si.com/nfl/dolphins/new...-11-training-camp-joint-practice-observations
Tua: 'Today Felt Like a First Day' Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa reflects on the first joint practice against the Chicago Bears LAKE FOREST, Illinois — This week is bringing new experiences for quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, and so far so good. The Miami Dolphins starter described his thoughts after the first of two joint practices with the Chicago Bears on Wednesday, both in terms of the benefits from those workouts as well as looking ahead to his first NFL preseason game Saturday at Soldier Field. “Well, it’s a first," Tua said in a corner of the Walter Payton Center, the Bears' inside practice facility at Halas Hall. "This is my first joint practice. The rookie class last year, this is a lot of our first joint practices. I’m looking forward to it. I think it’s cool. Last year was a little weird for everyone but competing with your guys and not being introduced to what a game-like scenario would feel like, and just kind of being into a game, that first year — although I didn’t play — was kind of different.” Tagovailoa had himself a solid day overall against the Bears defense Wednesday, though he was right on target on his first couple of throws and looked ahead for a monster practice until the team on the other side had something to say about it. “Yeah. I think this defense is really good up front," Tagovailoa said. "When you’re hitting your back foot on your throws, they’re right there and kind of in your face area. But that forces us, as quarterbacks, to kind of move the way we need to, and it simulates game-like pocket presence for us. I thought it was really good today. We’ll take a look at the film. We’ll try to correct a lot of the things that we didn’t do well today and we’ll come out tomorrow and hopefully it’s a better one.” Tua spread the ball around to his receivers Wednesday, with Mack Hollins, Jakeem Grant and former Alabama teammate Jaylen Waddle all getting their shots downfield. There were no touchdown passes, outside of passing drills without linemen that began near the end zone, and Tua was not intercepted. It was, all in all, another good step in his development as he heads toward his second regular season. “I think today felt like a first day type of practice," Tua said. "It’s a new environment, new guys, new faces. It was just good to be able to go out there with all of the guys and work out the timing with them against how these DBs play, and then where to find the areas in their zone that we can kind of get going.” Tua took advantage of the joint practice to meet Bears rookie quarterback Justin Fields, who like himself was a first-round pick with high expectations. As this point, Tua obviously is further ahead because of his NFL experience. Tua was asked Wednesday just how much further ahead he is than at this time last year. “Big picture question," Tua said with a smile. "I think it’s hard to look at the big picture when you’re just dialed in on what we’ve got to do to accomplish what we want right now. So for me, it’s really just going back to the film room, going back to the drawing board and kind of sitting down with our coaches, sitting down with the offense and the team and kind of talking through what we saw today and kind of get better from there so tomorrow is a lot smoother and we’re dialed in a lot more tomorrow.” BY ALAIN POUPART https://www.si.com/nfl/dolphins/new...iloa-reflects-on-his-first-nfl-joint-practice
Okay, are we going to have to talk about Mack Hollins now? The Phins have such an embarrassment of riches at WR that we might be able to trade a couple of them for legitimate contributors before cuts.
Not sure if there will be any more Chicago Tweets today but if so I won't be able to post them. I'm going to be tied up with work and then a stream, so if someone else wants to have it, please do! (As always!)
@Den54 Thanks! Looks like there'll be something. I should be able to throw a few out now but won't be able to keep up a little later on.