Setting the Record Straight on Chris Bell’s Status

There’s obviously a lot of hype around Miami Dolphins rookie wide receiver Chris Bell, which means fans everywhere are anxious to see him in action.

And that first time in a Miami uniform might come in the team’s preseason finale against the Atlanta Falcons at Hard Rock Stadium on Friday night.

But it’s not a done deal.

In fact, it might even be an exaggeration to see that Bell is expected to play against the Falcons because that’s not exactly what head coach Jeff Hafley said before practice Tuesday.

Unfortunately, this is the way things work in 2026 where somebody maybe assumes something from a coach’s comments, reports or tweets it and, boom, national outlets pick it up as fact.

There absolutely is a chance that Bell will play against the Falcons, based on Hafley’s comments, but there’s also a chance he’ll be kept out.

These were Hafley’s exact words before practice when he was asked whether Bell had a chance to get some snaps in the preseason finale: “Yeah, he does. I can tell you’re fired up about that. You guys saw yesterday, he was out of his red jersey. He did team, so he was in contact drills because we’re thudding. The plan would be –  today we’re going to treat like a Thursday in the season. Tomorrow we’ll treat like a Friday in the season. So we’ll have a pretty bigger load today in practice where he’ll get more reps and hopefully he’ll continue to progress forward. And if he continues to do so, then I’d like to see him play in the game.”

Bell then went out and did his most extensive work of training camp, which isn’t to say he got a ton of reps, just way more than he’d gotten to that point. Let’s say he got about eight reps.

He did have two receptions in team periods, following a nice catch near the sideline in one-on-one drills against cornerback Miles Battle that the Dolphins highlighted on social media.

THE PROS AND CONS OF BELL PLAYING

It certainly makes sense for Hafley to want to see Bell in a preseason game and it no doubt would be of some benefit to the rookie, but it’s also not like it’s a must for Bell to be able to make some kind of contribution at the start of the regular season.

Regardless, the key with Bell is avoiding setbacks, whether now, in a preseason game or at any time before the start of the season.

The bottom line here is the Dolphins absolutely are going to err on the side of caution with Bell, so any hiccup this week will keep him out of the Atlanta game.

As GM Jon-Eric Sullivan said around draft time, selecting Bell in the third round was about the long term. And the truth is Bell being this far along nine months after tearing an ACL is about as good as things could have worked out for him.

It’s completely understandable to want Bell on the field and contributing as quickly as possible, though it’s going to be a challenge and expectations should be realistic.

His profile suggests a WR1 at some point in his NFL career, but it might be far-fetched to think it happens in his rookie year coming off an ACL.

Offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik is as anxious as anybody else to see Bell operating at full capacity.

“Just going off his college tape, like some of the things that were awesome to just watch him do, like he’s a really big dude,” Slowik said after practice. “He’s a really fast dude. He’s hit some wild numbers on GPS, considering his size. He’s got great hands. He’s a tough tackle. So I mean, you could do a lot of things with that. As far as the receiver goes, he’s a good ball in hand player. He’s a good guy that can make competitive catches. He can go down the field and he can run underneath routes. I think the more we get used to just being with him we’ll kind of settle into what exactly his role is going to be for us. But from his college tape there’s not many limiting factors as far as what we’re going to let him at least explore.”

The limitations right now involve Bell getting back to full speed and getting fully acclimated to the offensive scheme.

If he plays against Atlanta, it clearly would be a big step in the right direction.

And it’s what all Dolphins fans should want.

But it’s not what should be most important to the team. And ultimately what’s best for the team will be what determines whether Bell does play against Atlanta.