Dolphins begin mandatory minicamp today

The Miami Dolphins are nearing the end of their offseason training program for 2015, with just the veteran minicamp remaining. That event, a three-day mandatory training period, will begin today, culminating the offseason program before sending the players off for a month break leading into the start of training camp.

Under the Collectove Barganining Agreement between the NFL and the Players Association, the veteran minicamp must be held Tuesday through Thursday, with physicals taking place on Monday and an off-day on Friday. The team can hold two-a-day practices on two of the three minicamp days, with the following stipulations:

(i) players may be on the field for a total of no more than three and one-half hours per day; (ii) players may participate in one practice for no more than two and one-half hours of on-field activities; (iii) the second practice may only be for the remaining portion of the players’ daily three and one-half hour on-field activities and shall be limited to walk-through instruction only; (iv) no organized team activities (including treatment and taping) may begin prior to 7:00am local time or end after 8:30pm local time, and players shall be given at least one hour for lunch and dinner each; (v) players may only be asked to participate in Club activities for a maximum of ten hours per day including taping and treatment but excluding meal time.

The Dolphins can practice on the field, but they canot do "live" tackling drills or any other contact work, and they can only wear helmets, with no other pads.

All three days of the Dolphins' minicamp will be open to the media (closed to the public), so we should see a lot of reports coming out over the next few days.