Miami Dolphins offensive lineman Bayron Matos was airlifted to a local hospital on Wednesday after suffering an injury during the final minutes of the team’s first training camp practice.
The team confirmed Matos, 24, is in stable condition but declined to disclose the nature of the injury. Teammates and staff gathered around Matos for more than 10 minutes as medical personnel attended to him on the field. A helicopter was brought in to transport him for further evaluation.
“It’s a really heartbreaking part of the game,” said veteran lineman Austin Jackson. “Very tough.”
Matos’ injury cast a shadow over the Dolphins’ opening session, though the team insisted it was not the reason practice ended early after 90 minutes. First-day sessions are typically shorter, a team official said.
A towering 6ft 7in and 334lb, Matos has taken one of the more unusual paths to the NFL. Born in the Dominican Republic, he moved to the United States at 17 to pursue basketball and to learn English.
He played two years of college basketball at New Mexico before transferring to South Florida, where he walked on to the football team in 2022 despite having never played organized football. Matos appeared in two games that season as a defensive lineman before switching to the offensive line, where he found his footing.
After just one year of college football, he was signed by the Dolphins in 2024 through the NFL’s International Player Pathway Program. Miami valued him highly, guaranteeing him $247,500 – an unusually generous sum for an undrafted rookie – to beat out interest from at least 10 other teams.
Though he spent the 2024 season on the practice squad and has yet to appear in a regular-season game, Matos saw preseason action last year and signed a futures contract with Miami in January. He entered training camp as a developmental project with considerable upside, thanks to rare athletic traits including a reported 4.88sec 40-yard dash.
“I want to be one of the best tackles to play in the NFL,” Matos said last year.
As of Wednesday evening, there was no timeline for his return. The team said it would provide updates “as appropriate”.
