Bad Day for Dolphins Injuries

Wide receiver Jaylen Waddle left practice early after being injured after catching a pass

Not that long after Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel provided an encouraging update on one of his injured players, he watched his team go through perhaps its most damaging practice of training camp.

In the second joint practice with the Atlanta Falcons, the Dolphins had four players either leave the field with an injury or get examined by a trainer, a list headed by wide receiver Jaylen Waddle.

The other players to get injured or nicked were fullback Alec Ingold, cornerback Justin Bethel and running back Jeff Wilson Jr.

Ingold, who signed with the Dolphins as a free agent in the 2022 offseason, has been having a great camp for Miami, in fact standing out as one of the team's top performers of the first couple of weeks.

There was no clear indication as to what happened to Ingold, only that he walked inside the training facility accompanied by a trainer.

Wilson fumbled at the end of a running play deep in Atlanta territory and then went to the sideline, where he had his left hand examined by a trainer. Remember that Wilson had two fingers on that hand taped together during practice Saturday.

Bethel was injured on Atlanta's last offensive series while coming up with an acrobatic interception near the sideline. He stayed after making the pick and trainers appeared to be looking at his left leg. After a bit, Bethel got up and walked behind the end zone to the opposite sideline to join his teammates.

Earlier Wednesday, McDaniel indicated that wide receiver Braylon Sanders could be back as early as next week after sustained a scary-looking leg injury in the first joint practice.

WADDLE INJURED WHILE MAKING A PLAY

The most worrisome injury figures to be the involving Waddle, given his importance to the offense after he set an NFL rookie record for receptions in 2021 and followed that up by leading the league in yards per receptions in 2022.

Waddle was injured on the Dolphins' second 11-on-11 series after catching a pass from Mike White in the middle of the field. Waddle went down after making contact with a Falcons defender and took a while to get up.

He appeared to be grabbing his right side, though exactly where wasn't clear from the stands.

Waddle then walked slowly toward the area between the fields before walking inside the facility with trainers.

“Waddle has probably had one of the best camps on our team," quarterback Tua Tagovailoa said after practice. "It’s kind of unfortunate to see something like that happen. I hope it’s just a couple of days."