Chris Bell made his NFL debut for the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.
It wasn’t quite as anticipated as the debut of Caleb Douglas, who had a high-level performance throughout training camp and the preseason to generate a lot of hype.
But still, Bell was a third-round receiver draft pick this spring, just like Douglas. There’s plenty of optimism about Bell, too.
And there was added intrigue in a different way, because Bell dealt with an injury recovery for most of the summer. It was only very recently that it became clear that Bell would even be available in Week 1.
The Dolphins lost to the Raiders, 27-13, and aside from Douglas catching five passes for 94 yards, there wasn’t much to write home about.
It’s worth a look at what Bell did, though, to see what he can be going forward.
Chris Bell NFL Debut
On paper, Bell’s NFL debut looks simple.
He caught one pass on two targets, a 25-yard completion from Willis. That shows, in the smallest of sample sizes, that he can provide explosive plays — and based on Bell’s tape at Louisville, that is very true.
Bell’s catch came when he lined up on the left flank with the cornerback playing well off of him.
On the snap, Willis went play-action, and Bell broke hard down the field. About 15 yards down the field, Bell turned it over and crossed the field from left-to-right.
Because of the threat of Bell’s deep speed, the cornerback never got very close to him despite playing in apparent man coverage.
Bell was open the whole way and Willis hit him in stride:
Miami Dolphins rookie WR Chris Bell pic.twitter.com/k9zi3kVTzh
— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) September 14, 2026
It’s just one play, but it’s the type of talent and ability you’d hope Bell can bring to the Dolphins’ offense on a more regular basis.
How Much Did Chris Bell Play?
Bell admitted during the week that he felt closer to 85 percent than 100 percent, so no one was expecting him to get a full allotment of snaps.
In the end, Bell played 29 snaps on offense, which was about half of what the Dolphins ran.
Malik Washington led the receiver group by playing on 55-of-56 snaps. Douglas was out there for 51 snaps.
So in the early going, Bell seems third in the pecking order, although there’s no way to know from just one week whether that was more about his talent and role or whether it was about his injury recovery.
A few more weeks of playing time data will be useful before jumping to any sweeping conclusions about Bell’s spot on the depth chart.
But it’s clear the Dolphins want him as part of their offense, and they don’t mind sending him deeper down the field — if Bell can add a dimension of down-the-field playmaking for Willis to trust, that’ll be big for Miami both now and in the future.
What We Learned From Chris Bell’s Dolphins Debut