What a difference a year makes. The Miami Dolphins are now just two days away from the one-year anniversary of the team’s opening game of the 2019 season — a 59-10 defeat at the hands of the Baltimore Ravens. That Ravens game kickstarted so much of the angst and criticism against the Dolphins for their ambitious rebuilding efforts, but now that the team is on the other side of that painful year there’s little doubt Miami had a vision in mind.
You don’t need to look any further than just how much better this team’s starting lineup projects to be in 2020 versus that opening game against the Ravens. Let’s take a look at who returns as a starter and how much better off Miami is in each phase of the game.
Offensive Skill Players
Here is the starting skill group versus the Baltimore Ravens on September 8, 2019:
QB: Ryan Fitzpatrick
RB: Kalen Ballage/Kenyan Drake
WR: DeVante Parker
WR: Preston Williams
WR: Albert Wilson
TE: Durham Smythe/Mike Gesicki
And the Dolphins’ projected starting skill group for Week 1 of 2020 versus the Patriots:
QB: Ryan Fitzpatrick
RB: Jordan Howard/Matt Breida
WR: DeVante Parker
WR: Preston Williams
WR: Jakeem Grant
TE: Mike Gesicki
This group is pretty much chalk. Newly acquired WR Lynn Bowden Jr. and fellow rookie Malcolm Perry loom as depth pieces early on this season but the Dolphins generally speaking did the least work on the skill group (aside, of course) of adding QB Tua Tagovailoa with a top-5 pick and addressing the running game. Miami’s backfield has more depth than it did a year ago and more persistent production than what Drake could produce.