The dog days of summer are here. What better way to measure the toughness of a football team, and their ability to execute in adverse moments, than to re-create the most critical situations that arise on game day?
Games are won and lost in this league in the red zone and on third down. Those were the themes of the eighth practice of Dolphins training camp 2025, and the returns were positive.
This offseason, Miami focused its efforts inside on the core of the roster. The first two selections of the draft were spent on players the trenches (defensive tackle Kenneth Grant and offensive lineman Jonah Savaiinaea). Veteran investments such as safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, offensive lineman James Daniels, and linebackers Willie Gay Jr. and K.J. Britt fortified the teeth of the team.
Friday, those parties were involved in some of the biggest plays of practice. Grant’s day began with a disruptive one-on-one period where he showcased his wiggle and burst. In the short yardage period, Grant paired with fellow defensive tackle Zach Sieler to clog lanes and shut down the running game. Sieler added a forced fumble that was punched into the sky and plucked by outside linebacker Bradley Chubb.
Savainnaea, Daniels and the Dolphins offensive line responded with four separate touchdown runs in the red zone period and three short-yardage conversions with the production spread across the skill groups.
Wide receiver Tyreek Hill scored a pair of touchdowns while all four running backs, De’Von Achane, Jaylen Wright, Alexander Mattison and Ollie Gordon II, found the endzone.
K.J. Britt put a bow on practice with one of the loudest thuds of the new season. His tackle could be heard from the bleachers above.
“It felt good to play football,” he said. “Couldn’t wait to put the pads back on from last year to now.”
“Just to know that short yardage can win or lose a game,” Britt continued. “Third-and-1, you’ve got to have it. Fourth-and-1, you’ve got to have it. We know that short yardage is a big part of the game. So we’re learning who we can count on.”
The offense has been able to count on left tackle Patrick Paul eight practices into the new campaign. The Dolphins have run one-on-one periods each of the three days since the pads came on with Paul hitting for a high batting average in those periods. The 6-7, 327-pound tackle was also creating displacement in the run game.
“Patrick Paul is having a very good camp and that’s because he had a very good five-week training period of time on his own that followed a great eight-week program of offseason,” Head Coach Mike McDaniel said. “He’s all in to his game and I think people are starting to see that on the practice field and we hope that turns into the game.”
Things were also heated on the perimeter at Dolphins camp Friday. Cornerbacks Storm Duck and Jack Jones had the big plays. Jones forced a throwaway from quarterback Zach Wilson with tight coverage in the red zone, but it was his next play that got the fans out of the stands. Jones rerouted the receiver, read Wilson’s eyes and fell back into the passing lane of another receiver to secure a leaping interception.
Jones has 27 passes defensed in three years with seven interceptions, four of those picks returned for touchdowns.
Duck also got his hands on a pass Friday. Tyreek Hill got on top of the second-year corner, with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa targeting his big-play threat, but Duck stayed in Hill’s hip pocket tipping the pass away at the last moment. Hill didn’t hesitate on his answer when he was asked which of the young corners stands out to him.
“Storm. He’s doing a great job,” Hill said. “He’s really patient at the line of scrimmage. He’s strong. He’s humble and he wants to be great. He comes to work every day, busts his tail, isn’t scared to compete, goes against Waddle, goes against myself and he’s only going to get better.”
The Dolphins are back on the field Saturday morning at 9 a.m. for the ninth practice of the new season.
For more coverage from Dolphins camp, download the Drive Time Podcast with Travis Wingfield, available wherever you get your podcasts.
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