Dolphins WR Tyreek Hill held out of joint practice with Buccaneers due to thumb injury

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — All-Pro receiver Tyreek Hill likely won’t play in Miami’s preseason finale due to a thumb injury that also kept him out of drills during Wednesday’s joint practice with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The injury is not considered serious. But Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said he is being cautious with the star player because the team doesn’t want to risk making it worse.

Although Hill didn’t practice against the Bucs, the speedy receiver was in pads and did not wear any protective padding on his hands while catching passes and doing some individual work.

“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 said some starters will play in Friday night’s preseason finale against the Bucs, but that 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.”

Hill, who did not play in Miami’s first two preseason games, matched a career high with 119 receptions while leading the NFL with 1,799 receiving yards in 16 games last season.