ESPN ranks Miami Dolphins 32 in meaningless power poll
By Brian Miller
The Miami Dolphins were not a good football team but should they be ranked the 32nd worst team in the NFL? ESPN thinks so.
In their latest and meaningless power poll ESPN has given Miami the worst possible ranking. That means they believe Miami is worse than the winless Cleveland Browns and the hapless New York Jets. Worse than the 2nd overall drafting team New York Giants and well every other team in the NFL.
The mainstream media have been very good at dogging the Dolphins for the last decade and while some of it is deserving most of it borders on ridiculous. The Dolphins made some moves this off-season that have apparently contributed to their thinking. It is the difference between being a winning franchise and a struggling one.
The loss of Ndamukong Suh and Jarvis Landry are hard to swallow but neither player helped the Dolphins win in the post-season and frankly aside from one year they didn’t make the post-season. The loss of Mike Pouncey has been lauded as a mistake but Pouncey is not only inconsistent but a minor injury away from ending his career.
These same media members believe that Miami lost leadership on and off the field when in reality they lost players that had or wanted big contracts and led by example only, if that.
Safe to say the folks who put together ESPN's latest #NFL Power Rankings don't think too highly of the #Dolphins offseason activity pic.twitter.com/rbLRTwUQ1Q
— Greg Likens (@GregLikens) March 27, 2018
This also could speak volumes to what the media believe, or just ESPN, about the return of Ryan Tannehill. The biggest missing piece from the playoff team of 2016 and the six win team of a year ago. Tannehill is scheduled to be healthy and ready to go but apparently that wasn’t enough to lift ESPN’s opinion of him and what he can do for the team. Apparently he can’t do much.
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The Dolphins have holes in a lot of places but it is hard to imagine the Dolphins finishing the season so bad that they would warrant such a low rank. But again at this point with not one player having taken the field or one unit being coached up it is all meaningless.
Miami should take this as disrespect and it should be pinned to a board for the players to remember all season long. Miami may not finish any better than 6-10 and they may not finish outside of the worst team in football but on paper it is more difficult to believe this team is that bad.
The return of Tannehill, a better offensive line, returning corners who have a lot of upside potential and a running back who was impressive in the last six weeks of the season are reasons to believe that the Dolphins could make some waves with a few more pieces.
Miami shouldn’t be ranked high honestly. In fact they shouldn’t be ranked in the top 20 either. 25 would be a good spot if you wanted to really post up a power ranking prior to the draft.
What do you think of this ranking?