The primary objective of the Miami Dolphins’ offseason was to ensure that the team had enough offensive firepower and talent to keep up with the team’s breakout defense from the previous season. That effort is one the Dolphins have to feel pleased with — although the team will not know for certain how successful the overhaul is until the team hits the field in September.
But that last bit of uncertainty isn’t enough to stop some from forecasting how the Dolphins’ overhaul did relative to the rest of the NFL. NFL.com, for example, ranked the Dolphins as the 4th best supporting cast in football in 2021.
“Setting aside Tua Tagovailoa’s admission that he didn’t have the best grasp on the playbook last year, the Dolphins tried to make things a lot easier from him by vastly upgrading his weapons to address what had been a subpar wide receiver group. They signed Will Fuller and then used the sixth overall pick to select the electrifying Jaylen Waddle. They also drafted an NFL-ready lineman in Liam Eichenberg, and provided the young passer a mentor in Jacoby Brissett. And finally, the Dolphins passed on drafting another quarterback, indicating they are totally committed to Tagovailoa.” — Judy Battista, NFL.com
The teams listed ahead of the Dolphins?
- Kansas City Chiefs
- Los Angeles Chargers
- New York Giants
- Miami Dolphins
The Chiefs’ upgrades for Patrick Mahomes are littered all across the offensive line. After Mahomes nearly carried the team to another Super Bowl trophy despite the limitations with his line, the Chiefs added potentially 5 new starters up front to guarantee that those issues won’t exist again this season. It’s hard to argue that strategy and hard to place the Dolphins ahead of that on the list. The Chargers also invested heavily in line play after already seeing their own young quarterback mesh with his pass catchers last year. Of the three teams ahead of Miami, the Giants are the team most similar to the Dolphins: they, too, have a top-10 pick at quarterback but need more clarity on exactly who he is and where the ceiling is. So a big contract was given to Kenny Golladay and the team traded down in the 1st round before drafting another wide receiver (Kadarius Toney) to help boost his supporting cast.
We’d argue Miami’s work was more impressive, particularly when the “other” big boost to the pass catching group is an elder statesman at tight end, Kyle Rudolph.