Miami Dolphins as offensive line coach Butch Barry works with players before a joint practice with the Atlanta Falcons at Baptist Health Training Complex in Miami Gardens, Florida, on Wednesday, August 7, 2024. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com
The Miami Dolphins will hold joint practices against two of the team’s three preseason opponents they play in August.
It was previously disclosed that the Dolphins would host the Jacksonville Jaguars for a series of joint practices leading up to the exhibition season finale. But on Thursday the Chicago media was informed that the Chicago Bears would hold joint practices with the Dolphins at Hales Hall, the team’s training camp facility.
A date and time for all three preseason games, as well as the practice have yet to be announced. And whether the public can attend these practices - or if they will be invite-only - has not been clarified.
The last time the Dolphins held joint practices with the Bears at Hales Hall, which was in 2020, the practices were invite-only for Bears season-ticket holders.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel is a huge fan of joint practices, which have become the norm in the NFL since four joint practices in the preseason are allowed. Sometimes teams hold back-to-back joint practices, setting up the preseason game that’s typically played on Friday or Saturday.
Not only does a joint practice allow both teams to gauge where they’re at, it gives starters the opportunity to go head-to-head for a little taste of game action, without the going to the ground element.
However, there are risks involved in joint practices. Two years ago receiver Jaylen Waddle broke his ribs in a joint practice, and last season Pro Bowl receiver Tyreek Hill suffered the wrist injury that lingered all season in Miami’s joint practices with the Washington Commanders.
Last year the Dolphins hosted joint practices against the Washington Commanders, and traveled to hold joint practices against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Both the Jaguars and the Bears feature first-time head coaches. The Bears hiring Ben Johnson, a former Dolphins assistant who worked his way up the NFL as a member of Dan Campbell’s coaching staff in Detroit. The Jaguars hired Liam Coen, who was hired from Tampa Bay, where he was part of Todd Bowles’ coaching staff.
“You sign up in a joint practice if you have relationships with head coaches, you can kind of forecast what they’re trying to get out of practice,” McDaniel said in mid-August. “I think it’s important that you can kind of find different teams you kind of see practice the same way so that you have the tempo similar so that you can push guys in the right way but it can be organized, constructive work as opposed to who wins each and every play.”