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Thursday Dolphins Notebook: OTA, Hunt and Roster Notes

The Miami Dolphins wrapped up another week of OTAs on Thursday with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa back at practice

Alain Poupart

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Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was back at practice when the Miami Dolphins wrapped up their second week of OTAs on Thursday.

Tagovailoa missed the previous OTA on Tuesday after he was sent home because of a non-COVID illness. His presence was confirmed by a clip sent out by the Dolphins social media team showing Tua completing a pass to Preston Williams.

The Dolphins will have their two-day mandatory minicamp next week (Wednesday and Thursday specifically) before closing out their offseason program the following week with OTAs every day except Wednesday (June 6-7, 9-10).

Hunt with the Orange Honor

Keeping track of the practice players of the day, guard Robert Hunt wore the orange jersey at practice Thursday. That signified he was declared the top practice player for Tuesday and earned the chance to select the music for the work on this day.

For those keeping score, the five winners of the orange jersey since the start of OTAs have been linebacker Jaelan Phillips, Tagovailoa, defensive lineman Zach Sieler, defensive lineman Christian Wilkins and now Hunt.

Roster Cut Revelations

The NFL informed teams Thursday about roster cutdown dates and procedures for the 2022 season, with some things staying status quo and some changes.

The roster cutdown dates will be as they were last year, on three consecutive Tuesdays with the last one coming after the third preseason game and coming nine days before the first regular season game.

So on Tuesday, Aug. 16, teams must cut their rosters from 90 to 85 players; rosters must be cut from 85 to 80 players on Tuesday, Aug. 23; and the final cut from 80 to 53 players will take place Tuesday, Aug. 30. All cuts must be made by 4 p.m. Eastern on those days.

As was the case last year, teams will be allowed to have 16 players on their practice squad, with as many as 10 allowed to be veterans or exemption players.

Finally, there's a change to the IR rule.

Teams in 2022 will be allowed to have eight players return from IR during the season, including a player returning more than once (though each occasion counts against the eight-return limit).

In another change, players put on IR during the regular season now will have to miss at least four games as opposed to three last year. That would meant, for example, that Tagovailoa would have had to miss four games last year with his rib injury instead of three.

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Alain Poupart
ALAIN POUPART

Alain Poupart is the publisher/editor of All Dolphins and co-host of the All Dolphins Podcast. Alain has covered the Miami Dolphins on a full-time basis since 1989 for various publications and media outlets, including Dolphin Digest, The Associated Press, the Dolphins team website, and the Fan Nation Network (part of Sports Illustrated). In addition to being a credentialed member of the Miami Dolphins press corps, Alain has covered three Super Bowls (for NFL.com, Football News and the Montreal Gazette), the annual NFL draft, the Senior Bowl, and the NFL Scouting Combine. During his almost 40 years in journalism, which began at the now-defunct Miami News, Alain has covered practically every sport at one time or another, from tennis to golf, baseball, basketball and everything in between. The career also included time as a copy editor, including work on several books such as "Still Perfect," an inside look at the Miami Dolphins' 1972 perfect season. A native of Montreal, Canada, whose first language is French, Alain grew up a huge hockey fan but soon developed a love for all sports, including NFL football. He has lived in South Florida since the 1980s.

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