TAMPA — The Miami Dolphins invested a lot of time, money, and effort to hold one 100-minute practice with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
But the abbreviated joint session on Wednesday was probably out of necessity. The Dolphins barely had enough NFL-caliber players on offense to get through the day.
Injury News From Miami Dolphins-Tampa Bay Buccaneers Joint Practice
The Dolphins’ long list of wide receiver injuries seemingly got a bit longer Wednesday. Erik Ezukanma, who was expected to have a showcase game Friday with so many others out, limped off the field late in practice.
Ezukanma had been the star of the practice, with a number of contested catches in 1-on-1s, 7-on-7s, and team drills. And based on his X post later in the day, seems to avoided something major.
“Blessed and highly favored,” he wrote. “Let’s keep stacking days.”
Rookie safety Patrick McMorris also suffered some sort of injury Wednesday. No additional information was available about either.
The following Dolphins players did not practice (or did very little after warming up): WRs Jaylen Waddle, Tyreek Hill, River Cracraft, Braylon Sanders; defensive backs Jalen Ramsey, Jevon Holland, and Cam Smith; running back Chris Brooks; offensive linemen Aaron Brewer and Terron Armstead; linebackers Jaelan Phillips and Anthony Walker Jr.; defensive tackle Benito Jones.
Hill is dealing with a minor thumb injury. Both he and Waddle did little more than warm up Wednesday, but would have almost assuredly been available this week had it been the regular season.
Head coach Mike McDaniel is playing it smart with both to ensure their issues don’t carry into the regular season.
Waddle, who is banged up again after being hurt for basically the entire 2023 season, said that he’s dealing with “something minor but something we have to respect.”
“It’s definitely difficult just getting these minor little nagging injuries,” Waddle said. “It’s just part of the game. Obviously, it’s something you don’t want, but you’ve got to respect sometimes. But, yeah, man, it’s football.”
Dolphins Offensive Highlights
Given how much firepower the Dolphins were missing Wednesday — a high-priced collection of players that included their top four wide receivers — it was probably prudent that McDaniel asked Tua Tagovailoa to play Captain Checkdown for most of practice.
When he didn’t, bad things tended to happen. Tagovailoa had a shaky start, gifting a bad pick to Bucs corner Zyon McCollum on an underthrown ball to Braxton Berrios, but then settled in later.
MORE: Simulate the NFL Season With PFN’s Playoff Predictor
Tua’s best throws were a precise sideline route to Berrios in 7-on-7s, a frozen rope to Ezukanma, and a second-level seed to Jonnu Smith.
Tua closed out his day by connecting with De’Von Achane on a screen pass in a simulated two-point conversion situation.
Dolphins Defensive Highlights
Cornerback Kendall Fuller had an up-and-down day. He picked off Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield but also got burned deep by star receiver Mike Evans.
DBs Elijah Campbell and Storm Duck both had pass breakups Wednesday.
Dolphins defensive tackle Calais Campbell knocked down Mayfield’s attempt on Tampa Bay’s first-team offense’s two-point try.
Chop Robinson had four 1-on-1 reps against three-time Pro Bowler Tristan Wirfs. Robinson won the first of those four chances emphatically, getting under Wirfs’ pad level of a guy who outweighs him by more than 60 pounds. Wirfs held his own or won on the other three chances.