There was another disagreement in the Miami Dolphins locker room that involved Jordyn Brooks and Tyrel Dodson.
On Friday the Dolphins’ two starting linebackers fought each other on the field during the team’s joint practice practice against the Chicago Bears.
After Sunday’s 24-24 tie against the Bears in Miami’s preseason opener, the teammates claimed the flight wasn’t a big incident.
“Brother’s fight all the time. That’s all that was,” said Brooks, who led the team with 143 tackles last season. “Brotherly love.”
But how often do brothers throw punches at one another before being separated by teammates?
“Anybody got kids, they fight all the time,” Dodson said while standing next to Brooks, his locker neighbor in Chicago’s visiting locker room. “One sibling gets hot then the other sibling gets hot. You’ve got to deal with it how you deal with it.”
According to coach Mike McDaniel, the fight wasn’t up to the team’s standard, and the linebackers apologized to the team during a team meeting.
“They knew it wasn’t to our standard and what we’re about,” Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel said. “They were accountable [to] their teammates. So overall, I think it was family business, [something] that families go through and I think we’re stronger because of it but that’s only because of the type of men that and and the accountability.”
The argument centered around Dodson’s play, and how Brooks had a higher standard for the six-year than what he was producing in the joint practice, which featured Miami’s defense outshining Chicago’s offense.
Dodson later produced a sack in the final 11-on-11 period of that joint practice.
Brooks said “scuffle” was about “Knowing his ability to do everything out there on the football field. I don’t think he’s limited any part of his game,” Brooks said. “Iron sharpens iron and we’re trying to get the best out of each other.”
At the end of their joint interview Sunday Brooks and Dodson were asked which of the two were the big brother in the relationship?
“I am,” Brooks said.
Dodson quickly responded with, “I’ll let him think he is.”