The Miami Dolphins have had some hard luck with talent over the past decade — thanks in large part to some incompetent coaching on the part of both Joe Philbin and Adam Gase. Good coaches aren’t just able to draw up sufficient play designs, they need to be able to motivate, coordinate, communicate and be self reflective. Through our first season under Brian Flores, Dolphins fans should be optimistic that their leader now is all of the above.
But the past leaders of the Dolphins were hardly half of those things at times, which is why so many players came and left the Miami Dolphins organization without ever realizing their full potential. Some did — but ‘Father Time’ inevitably caught them. Regardless of the nature of each individual player’s stature, few teams have turned over talent like the Miami Dolphins over the past 18 months. It was time for a change.
But if we looked to put together a starting lineup of all of the former Miami Dolphins who are still active across the league, what kind of team would we have on our hands? Could it win a few games across a 16 game season?
Here’s what we’ve been able to put together — and we’ll let you be the judge.
Offense
QB – Ryan Tannehill, Tennessee Titans
RB – Kenyan Drake, Arizona Cardinals
RB – Raheem Mostert, San Francisco 49ers
WR – Kenny Stills, Houston Texans
WR – Jarvis Landry, Cleveland Browns
TE – Dwayne Allen, Free Agent
OL – Laremy Tunsil, Houston Texans
OL – Billy Turner, Green Bay Packers
OL – Mike Pouncey, Los Angeles Chargers
OL – Richie Incognito, Las Vegas Raiders
OL – Ja’Wuan James, Denver Broncos
This offensive line is, sans Incognito, the same group the Dolphins implemented at the start of their 2016 10-win season. Turner was cut by late October and Tunsil was pin-balled between left guard and tackle before settling at tackle long-term. Incognito’s departure from the team was an unceremonious one — spurred on by the famous “Bully Gate” scandal that left the team without him & fellow starter Jonathan Martin for the second half of their season in 2013.
The rest of the offense should look familiar— it was all here (except for Mostert and Allen, who never played a formal down with the team) as recently as 2017 together. Landry was traded on account of a contract dispute and butting heads with Adam Gase and the rest of the skill players were victims of the Dolphins’ rebuild of 2019.
Defense
DE – Cameron Wake, Free Agent
DE – Robert Quinn, Chicago Bears
DT – Jordan Phillips, Arizona Cardinals
DT – Ndamukong Suh, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
LB – Kiko Alonso, New Orleans Saints
LB – Stephone Anthony, Free Agent
DB – Minkah Fitzpatrick, Pittsburgh Steelers
DB – Reshad Jones, Free Agent
DB – Michael Thomas, Houston Texans
DB – Jamar Taylor, San Francisco 49ers
DB – Jordan Lucas, Chicago Bears
The defensive back seven is, well, problematic. Which really shouldn’t be a surprise when you consider that the Dolphins have had a negative point differential in their last 5 seasons and the team has yielded 380 points or more every year over that stretch as well. The defense has not been strong, so finding viable talents to piece together that had their hand in such units was difficult to assemble.
This team has several one and done performances in Miami, highlighted by DB Minkah Fitzpatrick and Robert Quinn (2018). But among all the former Dolphins in this lineup, the Dolphins defense boasts the two faces of the franchise for the past decade in Reshad Jones and Cameron Wake.
So, what do you say, Dolphins fans? Assume this team had Brian Flores at the helm — how many wins could it gather over 16 games in 2020?
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