Dolphins

There was a valuable teaching moment for Dolphins HC Jeff Hafley in Miami’s preseason opener, one of what will probably be many this year. Dolphins RB Ollie Gordon picked up a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for throwing a ball at a defender. Hafley immediately yanked him from the game. 

“We had an opportunity to continue a drive, and it’s important to me — I’m not a big fan of pre-snap penalties and post-snap penalties like that, those are not acceptable to me,” Hafley said via Pro Football Talk. “It’s disrespectful to the team, it’s selfish, and it’s how you lose games. And you know, I’m not going to play players that can’t control themselves and get us 15-yard penalties and have us go backwards and put our team in a bad position, put our coaches in a bad position. And that’s a big learning lesson.

“I went over it with the team today. Ollie and I had a great conversation again this morning and, you know, hopefully he’ll learn from that and our team will learn from it, but those are the quickest way to lose football games and there’s no place for that. And when I pulled him out, I’m not going to tell you exactly what I said to him, but it was a chance for me to look him in the eye and let him know that that was not OK and that I had to take him out and he had to learn his lesson, because if you’re going to have a standard, there has to be consequences, or then your standard is just a bunch of BS if not.”

Jets

Jets DE Will McDonald IV is entering the fourth year of his career after being a first-round pick in 2023. McDonald mentioned that he put on some weight over the offseason in hopes that it helps him defend the run. 

“I added a couple of pounds,” McDonald said, via Eric Allen of the team’s site. “I bulked up a little bit and obviously I’m going to use that more in the run game. Obviously, there is room for improvement in my run game, so that’s another thing I’m really big on.”

Jets HC Aaron Glenn said McDonald is aware that he needs to improve against the run and is confident in the defense end going into 2026. 

“Pass rushing has always been his wheelhouse,” Glenn said. “And I think you guys know, I know, he knows that his improvement has been the run game. Listen, he came in this year, he’s 240 pounds, he looks really good, I know you guys see that. He took it upon himself to understand, have awareness of where I have to improve at, and I have no doubt in my mind he’s going to get better in that aspect.”

McDonald thinks the additions of fellow edge rushers like Kingsley Enagbare, Joseph Ossai and first-rounder David Bailey will be beneficial to his own development. 

“Those are really good guys – good run defenders, good pass rushers,” McDonald said. “There are things that I learn off of them and there are things they learn off me, so I think just having those guys in the room helps me. It helps the rookies and it helps everyone else out.”

Patriots

ESPN’s Mike Reiss notes that Patriots LB K.J. Britt had a good preseason game this past weekend, which helped his standing on the roster as he was getting pushed for the top backup job pretty hard. 

“K.J. showed up with a veteran presence, physical presence, trying to help us on special teams and add versatility [by] trying to play both positions inside,” Patriots HC Mike Vrabel said. “I have appreciated how he approached the offseason and now he’s been given a chance to compete.”