Training camp report: What happened at first Dolphins practice on Wednesday

News and notes from the first Dolphins practice of training camp, on Wednesday in Miami Gardens:

▪ Tua Tagovailoa’s accuracy was sharp.

He completed a 40-yarder to Jaylen Waddle, who twisted his body and leaped for the acrobatic catch over Jevon Holland. Waddle bobbled the ball briefly before coming down with it. Except for a throwaway, all of Tagovailoa’s other passes were short and intermediate routes.

Tagovailoa threw only three incomplete passes all day, in more than a dozen passing attempts.

Tagovailoa completed all four of his throws in the initial 7-on-7 work in practice, including a 15-yard dart to Waddle.

And Tagovailoa threw a nice sideline pass to Tyreek Hill to begin 11-on-11 work, but Xavien Howard seemed to nudge Hill, preventing Hill from making the catch. A penalty wasn’t called.

That was Tagovailoa’s only incomplete pass in his first 10 or so throws in 7-on-7 or 11-on-11 work. His second incomplete pass was a throwaway on a blitz by multiple defenders.

His third and final incomplete pass was a deflection by Zach Sieler, who’s back after skipping OTAs with the hope of landing a new contract.

▪ Drops were a problem early.

Hill dropped a nifty sideline pass from Skylar Thompson and punted the ball in disgust.

Waddle dropped a Thompson pass that could have been thrown a bit better.

And rookie undrafted tight end Julian Hill dropped a well-thrown pass from Thompson.

Thompson seems to have been given a legitimate chance to compete with Mike White for the No. 2 job, even though White was signed with the belief that he very likely would be Tagovailoa’s backup.

Thompson had some bad luck Wednesday, victimized by those three drops, but had a good day overall.

He completed a dart to Salvon Ahmed for a 20-yard gain that Ahmed turned into an even bigger play.

And Thompson made a great throw to Hill for a 20-yard completion in the middle of the field and another 15-yarder to Hill.

Thompson also completed short throws to De’Von Achane and Cedrick Wilson Jr.

White’s day was pretty good, too. He completed dump-offs to Alec Ingold and Erik Ezukanma and had a strong throw to Braxton Berrios for a 15-yard gain in the middle of the field and a 13-yard throw to Waddle on the sideline.

White’s accuracy was way off on a throw to Waddle, but that was his only bad throw of the day.

▪ Everybody was present and participating except the four players on the active/physically unable to perform list -- offensive linemen Terron Armstead and Isaiah Wynn, cornerback Nik Needham, tight end Tanner Conner — and undrafted rookie edge player Zeke Vandenburgh, who’s on injured reserve.

Needham was spotted running on the sideline, as he makes his way back from last October’s Achilles’ injury.

▪ Jaelan Phillips limped off after the second 7-on-7 play, early in practice, and had his left leg examined by a trainer. But he returned to practice after about 10 minutes.

▪ Players won’t be in full pads until next week, and it’s difficult to judge running backs until then.

But Achane displayed his blazing speed by turning the corner and getting to the perimeter on one running play.

Ahmed, a perennial training camp star, also showed his usual speed on the long reception and a couple of runs. He was the standout among the running backs on Wednesday.

▪ Berrios, Wilson and River Cracraft worked on returns.

▪ Raekwon Davis blew up a Raheem Mostert run for a loss. Undrafted rookie defensive tackle Brandon Pili and linebacker David Long also had tackles for loss.

▪ Reporters aren’t permitted to say who’s lined up at most positions, or who’s with the first team and second team. So we’re not addressing that, per team policy.

What we can say is this: The organization holds Kendall Lamm in high regard after he played left tackle very effectively in the Jan. 1 Patriots game before an injury. And as general manager Chris Grier has said, the Dolphins expect Austin Jackson to be their starting right tackle.

▪ Rookie cornerback Cam Smith deflected a pass thrown to Braylon Sanders, from Thompson.

▪ On the final play of practice, Cracraft caught a pass from White but fumbled after Justin Bethel knocked the ball out. Rookie linebacker Aubrey Miller recovered it.