The Miami Dolphins finished their 2021 campaign with a 9-8 record and missed the postseason for the fifth year in a row.
Since then, they’ve fired Brian Flores, hired Mike McDaniel/a mostly new coaching staff and added a number of impactful players that are expected to help Miami end that drought of playoff appearances.
With everything that has changed with this team, NBC Sports’ Peter King, like many of us, still has questions about the Dolphins. In his most recent power rankings, King put McDaniel’s team at No. 16 of the 32 teams.
Here’s his reasoning:
“‘They have the widest distribution of outcomes of any team in the league this year,’ said analytics-cruncher Eric Eager of PFF. Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle and Mike Gesicki are going to be hell for opposing defenses, and Tua Tagovailoa should be better-protected with Terron Armstead protecting his front side. But this will be a referendum season on Tagovailoa. Will his arm strength be good enough for deep shots to two great deep threats? New coach Mike McDaniel was great in San Francisco at divining the strengths of his players (see: Deebo Samuel). And he’ll figure out ways in the intermediate areas to get Hill and Waddle free to make trouble for defenses. The win for McDaniel will be making Tagovailoa the no-doubt quarterback for the near future in Miami, and in passing New England in division supremacy. Two lofty goals, but for a team that won eight of its last nine, attainable ones.”
No. 16 in his power rankings also puts the Dolphins ninth in the conference, meaning he expects them to just miss the postseason yet again. While all of his questions are certainly viable, the same could be said about some of the teams ahead of them.
Philadelphia came in at No. 9. They brought in A.J. Brown from Tennessee, and that will certainly help. However, is that much different than the situation the Dolphins have right now? A young, inconsistent quarterback, who played for Alabama, is looking for…
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