Miami Dolphins built to fail in 2018 under current roster
Miami Dolphins fans should be prepared for a losing season in 2018
Two weeks removed from the NFL Draft, NFL rosters are settling in and teams are preparing for mini-camp and, in a couple months, training camp. Despite coming off a strong NFL Draft class, the Miami Dolphins are in a position to have the worst record in the NFL.
Drastic? Not really. Their entire season hinges on quarterback Ryan Tannehill returning from his second ACL surgery in as many years. The former Texas A&M starter hasn’t played in a regular season game since December 2016 when he originally suffered the season-ending knee injury.
Bovada has the Dolphins win/loss total at six games, and they have the second-worst odds to win the Super Bowl ahead of the New York Jets. Yes, the Cleveland Browns, Buffalo Bills, and Chicago Bears have better odds to win the Super Bowl than Miami.
To make matters worse, Miami failed to draft a quarterback capable of developing, let alone starting, this year. They took Ohio State linebacker Jerome Baker three spots ahead of Pittsburgh selecting Oklahoma State quarterback Mason Rudolph, and passed on Lamar Jackson in the first round.
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Despite Tannehill coming off an injury, the Dolphins haven’t stacked their depth chart with capable, competent backups in case of injury. Miami carries Brock Osweiler, Bryce Petty, and David Fales behind Tannehill, who had a combined touchdown/interception ration last year of 36/38 and a starting win/loss record of 14-18. Their 29.13 QBR would be between C.J. Beathard and DeShone Kizer for third-word in the league last year.
Petty and Fales are major projects that other teams have moved on from, and Osweiler was an heir who failed to live up to expectations and a large contract with Houston.
NFL fans and their mothers know you can’t go into a season with a quarterback situation like Miami’s and expect to come out on top.
What’s worse are the moves Miami made elsewhere on their roster to dilute themselves of talent. Financial situations with Jarvis Landry and Ndamukong Suh made their departures inevitable, but replacing them with subpar talent is unacceptable. Just as unacceptable is giving Albert Wilson and Danny Amendola $36 million. Hopefully, DeVante Parker, Leontee Carroo, Kenny Stills, and Isaiah Ford continue to develop despite the lack of quarterback and presence of the two veteran free agents.
Kudos for getting Josh Sitton to protect Tannehill’s leg and bringing Frank Gore to Miami, but have the Dolphins improved in any other way this offseason? They have added Robert Quinn and Akeem Spence on defense through trades and Minkah Fitzpatrick and Jerome Baker through the draft. We’ll see how much they get out of Quinn at 28-years-old before he hits a massive payday next offseason when he’s owed more than $12 million with no dead cap.
Unless the Dolphins are knowingly “tanking” this year, there will be a new set of faces running the organization at the top through the bottom.
Would going through a rebuild/tank really be a bad thing for Miami considering they know they won’t win the division this year? Are they entering 2018 knowing they’ll never compete with the Patriots and rather put themselves in a position to play young talent and accrue a high draft pick to replace Tannehill?
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Regardless of what the Dolphins plan is next year, just know they will lose many, many games and be in position to draft another quarterback.