The Miami Dolphins ended the 2019 season strong, punching their ticket to the offseason with a thrilling victory over the New England Patriots in Foxborough to finish their season on a 5-4 stretch. The win not only shook up the landscape in the AFC playoff picture, it grabbed the attention of NFL fans everywhere and — depending on what Tom Brady decides to do this offseason — could be seen as a pivotal final chapter in the New England Patriots dynasty.
Not a bad end to a season that was supposed to be filled with nothing but the gloom and doom of a rebuild.
And now our eyes can shift forward to 2020 for good — Super Bowl LIV is in the books, we’ve crowned a new champion and the Dolphins are ready to begin the fortifications of their roster. And given the start of the offseason, outlets have begun to string together season recaps and offseason Power Rankings.
The first set of Power Rankings comes from ESPN: the Dolphins check in 26th on the list. The teams ranked behind Miami?
- The Cincinnati Bengals
- The Washington Redskins
- The Detroit Lions
- The New York Giants
- The Jacksonville Jaguars
- The Carolina Panthers
The Dolphins, to their credit, have a plentiful surplus of both NFL Draft selections and salary cap at their disposal — which, when paired with Miami’s 5-4 closing stretch, provides reasonable optimism relative to the rebuilding Panthers or the downtrodden Lions and the rest of the teams ranked below them in the rankings.
Heck, Miami could make a reasonable argument to be ranked ahead of the New York Jets (25th) and the Los Angeles Chargers (24th) given Miami’s near sweep of New York and the Chargers’ decision to unceremoniously part ways with Philip Rivers. Perhaps after a few offseason transactions.