Team adds set of joint practices with Bears
The Miami Dolphins are doubling down on the team’s joint practices during the 2021 preseason.
The Dolphins, who have begun their third season of a rebuild under coach Brian Flores, already had a set of joint practices planned with the Atlanta Falcons in Miami before the second preseason game.
But the Dolphins have also scheduled joint practices with the Chicago Bears prior to the team’s first preseason game, which will be played at Soldier’s Field.
The news of a second joint practice,
which first was reported by The Athletic, and has since been confirmed, comes a month before training camp is set to begin in late July.
The joint practices will take place at the Bears’ training facility Aug. 11-12, with the teams playing their preseason opener Saturday, Aug. 14, at 1 p.m.
This is the first time the Dolphins have had two sets of joint practices in one preseason in recent years. The Patriots, the organization where Flores comes from, has had two sets of joint practices numerous times.
”I’m always in favor of doing joint practices,” Flores said earlier this summer. “I think they bring a lot from a camaraderie standpoint, from a competitive standpoint. I think you can get a lot out of those. I know we did with Tampa a couple of years ago and my experience is you get a lot out of those and it kind of breaks up training camp in a good way, in a positive way.”
The joint practices against Atlanta will take place at the Dolphins’ new practice facility adjacent to Hard Rock Stadium on Aug. 18-19, prior to the teams’ preseason game on Saturday, Aug. 21.
The last time the Dolphins held a joint practice was two years ago against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Miami practiced against the Buccaneers in Tampa twice before playing a preseason game at Raymond James Stadium.
Joint practices are useful when it comes to evaluating talent because it breaks up the monotony of practicing against your own team. Usually, by the third week of training camp offensive and defensive players familiarize themselves with each other’s styles of play, which waters down the effectiveness of the practices. It also is beneficial to evaluate players competing against varying talents.
It is possible that joint practices will be the avenue used to address the elimination of the fourth preseason game, which was generally used to evaluate the bottom end of the roster and determine which journeymen and undrafted rookies would make it onto the 53-man roster and practice squad.
The Dolphins’ third preseason game will take place Sunday, Aug. 29, against the Cincinnati Bengals and will be televised nationally by CBS.
It is possible that the third preseason game will continue to be used as the dress rehearsal for the regular season, which means starters will play at least the first half, getting the team ready for its Sept. 12 season opener against the Patriots at Gillette Stadium.
The Dolphins went 10-6 last season, but narrowly missed the playoffs.