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It’s not hyperbole to say Miami Dolphins second-year safety Jevon Holland has the look of a future All-Pro.
Holland continued his standout training camp that has followed a breakthrough rookie NFL season, bringing down two interceptions against quarterback Tua Tagovailoa on Wednesday. Holland has three interceptions in the past two practices.
“He’s made tremendous plays, not just today but throughout the entire camp,” said Tagovailoa, who has been the passer for all three interceptions, after Wednesday’s drills. “The plays that he’s made is only getting me better, only getting our route distribution better and our timing better offensively.”
The two interceptions may not have been his best play Wednesday. Holland was trailing speedy wide receiver Tyreek Hill streaking deep across the middle to a sideline when Holland flashed his closing speed to catch up to the floating Tagovailoa pass and knock it away at the last second, howling in celebration following the play.
“He’s going to be a good player,” said linebacker Jerome Baker of Holland. “He puts the work in, and he wants to get better. His competitive side, he just goes after it.”
Wednesday’s practice ended abruptly with coach Mike McDaniel stopping drills at an odd point in a situational drive. McDaniel appeared animated as he delivered a message to his team.
Apparently, it was a positive message from the Dolphins coach, who was encouraged by a better Wednesday practice than Tuesday’s session.
“I just think it was a combination of us making plays on offense and defense that had him fired up and excited, I guess,” said right guard Robert Hunt. “Maybe [Tuesday] wasn’t our greatest, but [Wednesday], we came out and found a way.”
The feeling was Wednesday’s team drills saw a constant back and forth, whereas Tuesday, as McDaniel said Wednesday morning, the offense won early and defense responded late.
“[Tuesday] was a tough day for us, and [Wednesday] we just got better,” Baker said.
Among guests at Dolphins Wednesday practice were former general manager Rick Spielman, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra and social media personality and boxer Jake Paul, who threw out the first pitch at Tuesday night’s Marlins game and was at Hill’s Monday opening of his new sports apparel store in Aventura, Soul Runner.
Observations
Aside from the two interceptions, Tagovailoa had a strong situational drive. He also completed a short pass to Lynn Bowden Jr. that could’ve gone for a touchdown on the run after catch, but Bowden was sprung free before the catch on a pick that wasn’t called for offensive pass interference. …
Teddy Bridgewater floated up a nice pass to the sideline over Andrew Van Ginkel to Mike Gesicki. He also had back-to-back crisp completions to Cedrick Wilson over the middle and then Hill on a corner route, each for about 20 yards. …
Christian Wilkins was actively chirping and getting in offensive players’ facemasks after plays. He and fullback Alec Ingold got involved in a scuffle, and Wilkins and Liam Eichenberg also banged heads after one play. …
Noah Igbinoghene impressively broke up a pass intended for Hill from behind with sound technique on a crossing pattern. …
There were a couple of decent runs early in 11-on-11 action between one to the right from Chase Edmonds, another to the left from Sony Michel, Myles Gaskin on a pitch and ZaQuandre White showing physicality downhill. …
Elijah Hamilton ripped a ball out of Cethan Carter’s hands for an interception on a pass thrown by Skylar Thompson. …
Cameron Goode and Porter Gustin had sacks. Jaelan Phillips and Benito Jones had pressures to force quarterback throwaways. Wilkins batted down a pass at the line of scrimmage. Van Ginkel and Ben Stille had tackles for loss on run plays. …
Wilson made one catch over the middle while getting held by a defender. Thompson completed one to Sherfield in the middle of the field while having an offensive lineman pushed back into his throwing motion. …
In 1-on-1s, Hunter Long beat Holland deep on a rep, as did fellow tight end Durham Smythe, in the orange jersey for previous practice player of the day on Wednesday, against Igbinoghene. Quincy Wilson, however, got the best of Long on a separate rep. Cornerback Nik Needham blanketed Sherfield, Elijah Campbell won a rep against Gesicki and drew offensive pass interference another time, and safety Brandon Jones covered Carter well on a double move. …
In lineman 1-on-1s, newly signed defensive tackle Niles Scott pushed back center Michael Deiter, Phillips got around Larnel Coleman, tackle Austin Jackson got the best of rookie Cameron Goode and Kellen Diesch held his own against an Van Ginkel pass rush. …
Stock up
Dolphins offensive guard Robert Jones has really come along in training camp and could be making a case for the top reserve lineman spot. With Miami’s tackle depth a concern, the contingency plan if standout left tackle Terron Armstead were to go down, could be to slide Eichenberg, who has experience there as a rookie, while inserting Jones in at left guard. It seems like a better option over simply inserting either Greg Little or Coleman, the team’s backup tackles on the depth chart, but McDaniel has indicated he generally likes to keep starters in the same spot, although not absolute in that theory.
Stock down
Wide receiver Preston Williams dropped a pass from Thompson and also was the receiver targeted on Tagovailoa’s first interception over the middle into traffic. With Williams at the heart of trade rumors, he has not flashed at all this camp.
Injury report
Jaylen Waddle, for a second straight day, missed practice but still caught balls post-practice on the Jugs machine. McDaniel calls his undisclosed injury “day to day” and said it’s “preventative” keeping him off the practice field. …
Also missing practice on Wednesday was Little, safety Eric Rowe, outside linebacker Brennan Scarlett and fullback John Lovett. Diesch and safety Sheldrick Redwine returned to team drills. …
Armstead and running back Raheem Mostert were not involved in team portions of practice on Wednesday.
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