To invoke of the the greatest soundbites in recent NFL history:
“Playoffs?! We’re talking about…playoffs??”
Indeed we are, thanks to NFL owners. The Miami Dolphins went 5-11 last season and endured a full 6 months of narrative that they were tanking before righting the ship midseason in 2019. But the playoffs in 2020 are sudden a little bit more of a realistic proposition to the Dolphins. And not just because Tom Brady is out of the AFC East and not just because the team is playing a last place schedule after spending big in free agency last month.
But because the NFL, as of right now, will officially have two more playoff teams each season. The league’s owners voted yesterday to expand the playoff field from 12 teams to 14 — a move that will open the door for one additional team from each conference to make the big dance every year. As a domino of the decision, the NFL will see just one team from each conference secure a first-round bye in the postseason and there will be six Wild Card contests in the first week of the playoffs — not four, which has served as the customary number under the prior format.
For the Dolphins, it comes as perfect timing. At the very least, this team should be in the postseason conversation when late November rolls around. That is, of course, unless this season goes sideways in a way that feels hard to imagine coming off the momentum of a strong finish to 2019 and the reinforcements that have come between free agency and the ones yet to come in the 2020 NFL Draft.