The ability to forecast the NFL season isn’t an easy one. Most of the time, you will see a handful of teams drastically deviate away from their expected outcomes; making predicting the future to be impossible. But that isn’t stopping Touchdown Wire from piecing together a set of NFL Power Rankings ahead of the start of training camps across the league.
For the Miami Dolphins, it’s a favorable forecast: they check in at No. 9 overall:
“The biggest question facing the Miami Dolphins seems obvious.
Who wins the second tight end spot behind Mike Gesicki: Hunter Long or Chris Mayarick?
Of course, I’m joking. The biggest question facing the Dolphins is indeed the obvious one: Does Tua Tagovailoa take the step forward the Dolphins need him to make? Miami was on the cusp of the playoffs a season ago, but inconsistency from the quarterback position, particularly from Tagovailoa, saw the Dolphins at home come the post-season.
The young passer admitted this off-season to some struggles getting the playbook down, and that might be cause for hope heading into 2021. After all, this remains a talented roster — although there are questions about the long-term status of Xavien Howard on the team — but they will need the second-year QB to develop quickly if the Dolphins are going to contend in the division, and beyond.” — Mark Schofield, Touchdown Wire
If a cruel twist, Miami checks in at No. 9 on the Power Rankings but somehow finds themselves a fringe playoff team in the AFC picture. Miami is the 6th highest ranked AFC team in Schofield’s Power Rankings. The playoff picture, if the rankings turn out to be factual, as are follows:
- No. 2: Kansas City Chiefs
- No. 3: Buffalo Bills
- No. 4: Baltimore Ravens
- No. 5: Cleveland Browns
- No. 6: Tennessee Titans
- No. 9: Miami Dolphins
- No. 12: Pittsburgh Steelers
Such an outcome would send Miami to Baltimore in January to play against former NFL MVP Lamar Jackson. That outcome would be quite poetic for Brian Flores, who in Year 3 would be facing Baltimore in the postseason after starting his career in Miami with a 49 point defeat at the hands of the Ravens in the 2019 season opener.
But of course, bear in mind that predicting the future in the NFL is no easy task. But this is one forecast for the upcoming season we’d love to see come true in the end.