Dolphins 2025 Camp: Detroit FirstJoint Practice Recap

DETROIT — The Miami Dolphins got their first chance to see how they measure up against the NFC powerhouse Detroit Lions on Wednesday, and this one session showed a team with a lot of work to do before their regular season opener.

Put mildly, things didn't go well for the Dolphins on any level, including an injury that saw 2024 first-round pick Chop Robinson leave the field on a cart.

While it was too early to know the extent of Robinson's injury, there can be no doubt the Dolphins were outclassed.

Wide receiver Tyreek Hill, who continues to deal with an oblique injury, did not take part in any competitive drill, which obviously some a factor in 11-on-11 work with the first-team Dolphins offense. Also not practicing were OLB Jaelan Phillips, RT Austin Jackson, LB Mohamed Kamara, S Ashtyn Davis and FB Alec Ingold.

Wide receiver Jaylen Waddle, who was kept out of the preseason opener because of a minor injury, took part in some competitive sessions but on a limited basis.

The teams practiced for a solid two hours and will go again Thursday morning ahead of their preseason matchup at Ford Field on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET.

PRACTICE TAKEAWAYS

-- With competitive action going on two fields at the same time, it's difficult for any reporter to see everything that's going on, so we teamed up with Detroit Lions on SI Publisher John Maakaron to have everything covered.

-- To that end, I watched the Dolphins offense vs. the Lions defense and Maakaron watched the Lions offense vs. the Dolphins defense.

-- The last session of the practice was a two-minute drill by each team's No. 1 offense against the No. 1 defense.

-- After the last play, when a flag was thrown against linebacker Jordyn Brooks for defensive holding, the teams started walking toward their respective huddle before there was a minor skirmish involving new Dolphins safety Ifeatu Melifonwu against his former Lions teammate Jameson Williams.

THE DOLPHINS OFFENSE

-- Before we get to specific plays, let's just say it was a really rough outing for the offense.

-- Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa didn't throw a pick after his rough three-INT joint practice against the Chicago Bears on Friday, but he also didn't have a touchdown — unless you count a swing pass to Jaylen Waddle in a red zone drill where Waddle may or may not have been able to break a tackle around the 5-yard line and the officials marked him down — and failed to connect on several deep shots in the passing game. He clearly was not happy with the offensive performance when he spoke to reporters after practice.

-- With Hill not doing any competitive drills and Waddle getting limited reps, it was an opportunity for the rest of the wide receivers to shine, but they came up short. There were a handful of drops on either easy or very catchable passes, but worse was a lack of separation on a lot of routes.

-- Moving on to specific noteworthy plays involving the Dolphins offense, we can start with Dee Eskridge dropping a pass after beating Lions DB Tyson Russell in the one-on-one receiver vs. DB drill.

-- One positive play in that session was rookie free agent Andrew Armstrong catching a pass on a slant against Lions free agent pick-up D.J. Reed, the former Jets starting cornerback.

-- On the last play on that session, Erik Ezukanma got behind veteran DB Rock Ya-Sin to catch a TD pass from Zach Wilson.

-- The seven-on-seven session started on a great note for the Dolphins, with Tagovailoa completing a pass to De'Von Achane down the right sideline over LB Jack Campbell for a sizable gain (30 yards maybe).

-- But the drops continued with Malik Washington failing to catch a pass thrown slightly behind him by Tagovailoal

-- Here comes a bad sequence for Zach Wilson, who throws two picks in five passes.

-- The first comes when he's picked off by Ian Kennelly after his pass to a tightly covered Eskridge is tipped by Miami native Dicaprio Bootle.

-- On the second, Wilson was picked off by good-looking first-year cornerback Nick Whiteside, who had good coverage against Tarik Black.

-- Quinn Ewers actually probably was the most effective Dolphins quarterback on this day, though it was a low bar. He started off with a nice throw for a completion to Armstrong.

-- Tua's closest call on a deep — or at least mid-range — throw came when he lofted a pass to tight end Julian Hill over the middle after he got behind linebacker Jack Campbell but Hill couldn't make what was a very catchable play.

-- As an example of the kind of day it was for the offense, Tua had completion to Eskridge after escaping the pocket under pressure, but Eskridge was flagged for having stepped out of bounds first.

-- Tahj Washington, who's had a very good camp, dropped a very catchable ball from Wilson and ackowledged by doing push-ups behind the offensive huddle.

-- At the start of an 11-on-11 period, Tua was sacked when a group of Lions immediately broke through the line.

-- This is the part where we mention the Dolphins offense was penalized a couple of times, including three holding calls.

-- Eskridge came up with a nice low reception on a Wilson pass.

-- But Wilson came back and badly misfired while rolling to his left when he had Ezukanma wide open about 12 yards downfield.

-- Tua against was victimized by his receiver when NWI failed to make a low catch over the middle.

-- Wilson was sacked a bit later, with the first Lions defender getting to him being linebacker Grant Stuard. Yep, the guy who created a storm with his comments about the Dolphins on Tuesday.

-- Ezukanma later was flagged for offensive pass interference against Avonte Maddox.

-- Tua throws the ball away while under pressure after Derrick Barnes beats Patrick Paul.

-- Paul later was flagged for holding Chad Hutchinson after he stood him up, Hutchinson kept going and Paul wound up with arm around Hutchinson’s neck and threw him to the ground. Let's just say there have been a lot more egregious holding situation that have gone uncalled.

-- Eskridge dropped a wide receiver screen.

-- Tarik Black came up with the only clear touchdown of the day for the Dolphins when he made a great catch to keep his feet in bounds on a short pass by Wilson.

-- At the start of another 11-on-11 period, Tua was sacked by Hutchinson twice in three plays.

-- Wilson also was sacked during that period, but that one was a coverage sack.

THE DOLPHINS DEFENSE

-- This was the report from colleague John Maakaron of Detroit Lions On SI:

-- Overall, it was not a good day for the Dolphins' defense. Detroit's offensive line was able to create space between the guard and tackles for multiple chunk run plays. Detroit's tight ends also were willing blockers. 

-- In the early competitive periods, which featured wide receivers battling against Dolphins defensive backs, Amon-Ra St. Brown was dominant. In one rep, he put a move on Kendall Sheffield and quickly blew past him for the easy completion. 

-- Detroit did have difficulties connecting early in the competitive period. Goff could not connect with Jameson Williams with Sheffield in coverage. 

-- Rookie cornerback Jason Marshall Jr. was battling Lions wideout Ronnie Bell early, with each wining a rep. 

-- The one-on-one pit drills saw a very competitive period between the Lions offensive line and the Dolphins defensive line. 

-- Those Dolphins with early clear wins with power-rush moves included Quinton Bell, Alex Huntley, Ben Stille, Derrick McLendon, Zach Sieler, Zeek Biggers, McLendon again, and Grayson Murphy.

-- Overall, Amon-Ra St. Brown was simply a matchup nightmare for the Dolphins' secondary. He was able to get in space and was open whenever he needed to make a play. 

-- The Dolphins defensive line brought pressure and did force multiple sacks, including Murphy and Bradley Chubb on the first play of a first-team offensive period. Safety Dante Trader Jr., who missed the joint practice against the Bears with a training camp injury, was a willing tackler and demonstrated physicality all throughout practice. 

-- Jack Jones Jr. also popped for the Dolphins, as he showcased quick burst to the football and blew up a run call to Craig Reynolds during a third-team period. 

-- The Dolphins' best period on defense was the second-unit against Detroit's second-team offense. The Lions made numerous mistakes and the Dolphins second-team defensive line took advantage of a young Giovanni Manu. In one stretch, Manu jumped early and was beaten clean in back-to-back reps. Murphy would have had a sack, as he powered through the blocks of Manu and Kayode Awosika. 

-- Miami was simply outmatched in the red zone period. Goff found Jameson Williams open for a touchdown on the first play in the red zone. Jahmyr Gibbs had a touchdown run and St. Brown outworked Marshall and held on for a touchdown that had the football pinned to his arm after battling the defensive back. 

-- Jack Jones was not pleased with all the trash talk coming from Detroit's sideline. He grew increasingly frustrated during the red zone period and got into a skirmish with Isaac TeSlaa following a David Montgomery touchdown rush.

-- One of the best pass rushes of the day for the Dolphins came from rookie Kenneth Grant, who used his power-rush moves to push back right guard Tate Ratledge into Jared Goff for a sack. 

-- Miami's third-team defense was able to capitalize on errors by Detroit before the situational period. Sione Vaki had the football punched out by Biggers and was recovered by Miami. TeSlaa had an uncharacteristic drop from Kyle Allen. 

-- The Dolphins defense, in a situational period with 54 seconds left in the second-quarter, did little to stop Detroit's offense. 

-- Goff found St. Brown with Cornell Armstrong in coverage for a 15-yard gain. Goff connected with tight end Brock Wright and Ronnie Bell. Nearing the red zone at the 27-yard line, Goff connected with Shane Zylstra. Goff could not connect with St. Brown on 2nd-and-12 and the practice ended with a penalty on the Dolphins defense for illegal contact in the middle of the field.