The Detroit Lions and Miami Dolphins squared off in a controlled practice setting on Wednesday, giving the Lions their first opportunity to practice against another team.
Lions coach Dan Campbell has embraced these joint practices throughout his tenure, as he believes it is beneficial for the team to engages in practices like these to break up the monotiny of camp as well as to see different looks after working against their teammates.
“Pretty excited about today, really the next two days, to get some work with the Dolphins," Campbell said. "They’ve got really good personnel, good scheme, and it’s somebody different. It gives us a chance to work against different types of looks and athletes. It’s awesome, so we’re fired up about this. We’re looking forward to it.”
Detroit was dominant on both sides of the ball Wednesday, generating several turnovers defensively and marching for several scores on offense during team periods.
Here are observations and takeaways from the first of two joint practices between the Lions and Dolphins.
The Lions were without safety Kerby Joseph, who was out for undisclosed reasons. Cornerback Terrion Arnold participated in individual drills and told reporters that he expects to be back for team drills on Thursday.
Running back Sione Vaki and defensive end Ahmed Hassanein both returned, with Vaki dealing with a hamstring and Hassanein exiting practice early on Monday to be evaluated for a leg injury. Offensive lineman Keaton Sutherland (knee) and cornerback DiCaprio Bootle (lower leg) left practice early to be evaluated for injuries. Sutherland was carted off.
A strong one-on-one performance set the tone for what was a spectacular day for Amon-Ra St. Brown. He dominated in his reps against Dolphins cornerback Jack Jones, putting the veteran cornerback in a blender with his route-running.
The success carried over to team and red-zone periods. St. Brown had a highlight-reel touchdown grab, when he caught the ball over Jason Marshall and pinned it to the defender's helmet with his forearm in the process.
St. Brown and Jones have history going back to the days of both growing up in California. For the fourth-year wideout, the emphasis for Wednesday's practice was executing at a high level.
"I think they moved a lot of guys, so they've got a bunch of new guys on that defense, younger guys," St. Brown said. "They competed, they played hard. But for us as an offense, we want to go out there and do what we do. Execute, no mental errors, splits, alignment, depth of the route, no penalties. That's really the biggest thing for us, being clean. We were pretty clean, we had some penalties. Just executing at a high level because that's what I feel like we've been doing for the last few years and we want to continue that."
After taking some lumps in working against their defensive teammates, the Lions' offense exorcised some demons against the Dolphins. Jared Goff was firing completions, particularly to St. Brown and Sam LaPorta, that resulted in chunk plays early.
The Dolphins' defense had some moments early in team drills, as one defender got home for a sack and Jones blew up a Craig Reynolds run. Rookie Kenneth Grant also had a nice rush against Lions' rookie offensive lineman Tate Ratledge.
The Lions also had a couple of turnover scares as well, with one being a fumble from David Montgomery that the veteran back quickly fell on. During a rep between the third-team offense and defense, Sione Vaki lost a fumble that was punched out by Dolphins defensive tackle Zeek Biggers.
However, the Lions' offense under the direction of coordinator John Morton controlled most of the session. In the red-zone, the Lions' first-team offense scored multiple times, as Goff hit Williams for a score on the first play. Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery each also had touchdowns.
Goff's connection with Williams was impressive. The throw was into a tight-window, with Goff displaying excellent arm strength and Williams showing strong concentration.
Kyle Allen also got into the fun, as he fired a low pass to Craig Reynolds that turned into a touchdown.
Detroit's offense continued to march throughout its final team periods, as Goff was sharp in finding St. Brown for a 15-yard gain to start a situational period. The veteran quarterback then found Brock Wright, Ronnie Bell and Shane Zylstra to get inside the red-zone before practice ended with an illegal contact penalty on Miami's defense.
With the Lions offense working on one field and the Dolphins working against Detroit's defense on another, Dolphins OnSI reporter Alain Poupart contributed observations from the latter group to this report.
For as much success as the offense had, the defense may have been even better. The Dolphins did not utilize Tyreek Hill in team periods, but Jaylen Waddle took some reps and was available. An early completion from Tua Tagovailoa to Devon Achane went for a big gain in 7-on-7, but the defense rebounded quickly,
D.J. Reed had a pass breakup covering Dee Eskridge, and Amik Robertson had coverage to force an incompletion on a ball thrown behind Malik Washington to end the first-team session.
The Dolphins' second-team offense struggled, as Zach Wilson was picked off by Ian Kennelly on his first attempt. After Erick Hallett nearly picked off the next pass, Nick Whiteside got his hands on the ball and picked off Wilson to end the second-team group.
The Lions' defense also forced several penalties, including multiple holding calls and an offensive pass interference. One of those holding penalties was on Dolphins' tackle Patrick Paul against Aidan Hutchinson, as Paul wrapped his hand around Hutchinson's neck and threw him to the ground after getting beat.
Grant Stuard, who made waves with his comments to Lions OnSI ahead of Wednesday's practice, got to quarterback Zach Wilson for a sack.
Hutchinson had two sacks in a three-play span in 11-on-11 drills, and Rock Ya-Sin and Avonte Maddox had tight coverage on a pass from Tagovailoa intended for Erik Ezukanma.
On the Lions offense's side of the field, Detroit's offensive linemen squared off against the Dolphins' defensive line in one-on-one pit drills. Their starting offensive line put on a show, as they were collectively 5-for-5 in the first round of reps.
Penei Sewell was the headliner, notching wins against Miami's Chop Robinson. His most notable rep was his last one, when he smothered Robinson's attempted spin move to win the battle.
Giovanni Manu struggled in his two reps, one against Derrick McClendon and the other against veteran Nick Chubb. Center Kingsley Eguakun was also 0-for-2 in his reps in the pit.
On the offensive side, the Lions' wide receivers showed that they were unwilling to back down when working against the Dolphins' secondary. Rookie wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa once again showed his toughness, as he mixed it up with Jack Jones on one rep, which ended with a David Montgomery touchdown.
TeSlaa was blocking Jones, and had his helmet knocked off by the defender. He retaliated with some physicality, and the two had to be separated.
At the end of practice, Jameson Williams went at it with his former teammate and current Dolphins safety Ifeatu Melifonwu. The two mixed it up quickly, with the rest of both teams quickly converging before the two sides were separated.
After practice, Williams posted a picture on his social media showcasing his mood after the end of practice scrap.
MOOD
JAMO pic.twitter.com/2Es7y2HrGQ
— DetroitSportsPodcast (@DetroitPodcast) August 13, 2025
1.) Former NFL player Ryan Clark and 'The Pivot' podcast were present at practice Wednesday. Clark politely declined an interview request.
2.) Ahmed Hassanein was given his draft card from the Lions' International Fan of the Year, Marius Dell of Germany, who announced his selection on the third day of the 2025 NFL draft.
3.) Offensive tackle Taylor Decker appeared to be on a rep count, as Dan Skipper began with the second-team before bumping up later in practice to take Decker's place.
4.) Wednesday's practice was officiated by Adrian Hill and his crew. Hill spoke with media after practice to discuss rule changes.