All-Pro receiver Tyreek Hill likely won’t play in Miami’s preseason finale because of a thumb injury that also kept him out of drills during Wednesday’s joint practice with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The injury is not thought to be serious. However, Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said he is being careful with the star player to avoid making the injury worse.
Even though Hill didn’t practice with the Bucs, he was in pads and did some individual work without any protective padding on his hands while catching passes.
“There’s certain situations where you’re in training camp and you’re practicing. Tyreek could practice today, however, there’s also times that because of the timing of where their bodies are at, it kind of puts them at risk to get further injury,” McDaniel said before the joint practice.
“And so it’s really, from a medical standpoint you’re just trying to let something cool down so you don’t have something happen at the expense of regular season games,” the coach added. “He’s been very active, but we’re trying to make sure … that that we keep him out of harm’s way.”
McDaniel mentioned that some starters will play in Friday night’s preseason finale against the Bucs, but others will not.
“The strategy is just where guys are at,” McDaniel said. “There’s jobs to be won and then to really evaluate all of the jobs at stake, you end up prioritizing certain aspects of your team and getting game reps for the guys that haven’t played in games as much.”
