The Miami Dolphins‘ starters will get a little bit of action in the team’s preseason finale against the Jacksonville Jaguars, according to head coach Mike McDaniel.
“My plan is for them to appear,” McDaniel said Thursday before a joint practice with the Jaguars. “What that looks like, the length of that will kind of be determined by today’s practice and then I’ll meet with the coaching staff right after and then tell the players a little more definitively what that looks like, but they have recently been told that they will appear.”
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McDaniel said his reasoning for the starters getting a few extra reps is that Saturday will be the team’s first chance since December to play at Hard Rock Stadium. The Dolphins’ first two preseason games were on the road against the Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions.
“It’s the first time this team has been through that routine,” McDaniel said. “Much of the game and much of each and every regular season game, the success or failure is determined by the process of going from practice to a game. Those reps are invaluable so that’s where my priority goes. … I want to see guys play together and get the last jitterbugs out before we get real in a couple weeks.”
Still, the Dolphins are dealing with several injuries and will probably be cautious about who sees time against the Jaguars. That likely means stars like De’Von Achane and Tyreek Hill will sit out.
“That’ll be a great opportunity,” Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa said Thursday. “Hopefully we get to get (Jaylen) Waddle out there. Just get him back in his routine, his game day routine. The feel of hearing the first play, going out running the plays and then you know there’s other guys as well. There’s a lot of injuries and things going on of that nature, so you’re going to have to maneuver through who’s going to be in there, who’s not going to be in there, the risk reward of that as well.”
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Jacksonville, on the other hand, plans on taking it easy to finish up its preseason slate.
“We are not going to play our starters,” Jaguars coach Liam Coen said. “We got them the two weeks of work in the first two games.”
Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET on Saturday night.
This article originally appeared on Dolphins Wire: Dolphins starters to play vs. Jaguars backups in preseason finale