Why leaked video of Dolphins practice in Cincinnati sparked NFL inquiry ahead of Bengals game

Edward Sutelan

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Why leaked video of Dolphins practice in Cincinnati sparked NFL inquiry ahead of Bengals game image

The Dolphins prepared for their "Thursday Night Football" matchup against the Bengals in a wide-open stadium in the middle of a university campus. Now, the NFL is investigating the filming of one of the team's practices.

On Wednesday, videos began to circulate of Miami's practice on the University of Cincinnati's campus as someone — apparently in one of the buildings outside the stadium — filmed a number of plays and tweeted them out. According to the Miami Herald's Barry Jackson, the league is now looking into the source of the videos.

According to the Washington Post's Mark Maske, the NFL does not suspect a violation has been committed by any teams.

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According to the Bengals' radio voice Dan Hoard, the Dolphins knew about the openness of the setup, and were given the option to practice at the University of Cincinnati's practice facility before or after the Bearcats, and while the bubble would have been down, there would have been less visibility than the stadium.

The Dolphins traveled to Cincinnati earlier than they normally would have as Hurricane Ian drew closer to South Florida. The University of Cincinnati hosted the team, allowing the Dolphins to practice at Nippert Stadium, but that generosity may have backfired.

A Twitter user named Jfolk shared six videos of different plays the Dolphins were running at practice on UC's campus. In several videos, the reflection makes it clear the videos are being filmed from a window. Several of the videos showed quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who has been listed as questionable for the game, practicing.

The student replied to a tweet from the Bengals with one of the videos recorded.

The user later tweeted that he had every play from the playbook on his camera.

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The University of Cincinnati Barstool Sports account shared one of the videos and Barstool Sports president Dave Portnoy shared an email from the Dolphins asking the account to remove the posts, saying they were recorded at a closed practice and contained content that was "not authorized or permitted."

Teams typically practice in facilities or within their own stadiums to prevent unauthorized eyes on the practices. 

The most notable example of improper filming leading to problems for an NFL team came during "Spygate" when the Patriots were found to have taped the Jets' defensive signals during a game in 2007. Bill Belichick was fined $500,000 and the team was fined $250,000.

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Where this differs, however, is that the Patriots filmed the signals from an unauthorized location during a game. The Dolphins were filmed practicing at the football stadium of a public university from a campus building by someone who could be a student.

Even from a video shared by the Dolphins, there is a building clearly seen overlooking the stadium.

Apparently, coach Mike McDaniel was at least a little bit prepared for the crowds around the stadium. NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reported there were at least 12 players on the field in each clip, potentially to throw off any unwanted eyes.

Nippert Stadium is open to the public and allows students to come and play on the field, sit in the stands or walk through to get to class. It is surrounded by several prominent buildings, including the university center and recreation center.

While certainly this one account appeared to have done an excessive amount of filming, in this age of social media, maybe expecting a student doing homework or having lunch on campus to not think anything of filming an NFL team practicing outside their window was a bit much.

Edward Sutelan

Edward Sutelan Photo

Edward Sutelan joined The Sporting News in 2021 after covering high school sports for PennLive. Edward graduated from The Ohio State University in 2019, where he gained experience covering the baseball, football and basketball teams. Edward also spent time working for The Columbus Dispatch and Cape Cod Times.