ESPN is again wrong about Miami Dolphins offensive ranking 31st

The Miami Dolphins, according to ESPN’s Bill Barnwell will have the 31st ranked offensive arsenal in 2018. At least at running back, wide-receiver, and tight-end.

When you begin to read an article and there are at least five bullet points to clarify what you are about to write, you might want to rethink your article. When it comes to ESPN we Miami Dolphins fans know all too well, they don’t like us.

Bill Barnwell’s ranking of all 32 NFL team offenses by “arsenal/weapons”, in other words, no quarterbacks or offensive lineman, is kind of a joke and it’s wrong. For starters, he opens his article with this lovely gem.

"“Throw in the Dolphins scapegoating Jay Ajayi for their problems…” Barnwell"

Jay Ajayi was not a scapegoat for the Dolphins problems. Obviously Barnwell did nothing more than read headlines from his own negligent network. Do some research. Ajayi was rather immature and not just last season with the Dolphins before the trade. He was left home the year before because he didn’t like losing his starting role to Arian Foster.

Ajayi also showed some immaturity in Philly as well after the trade. All of that is well and fine but none of it matters as it relates to these rankings. It just gives a little more insight or lack of insight by the author.

31st. That is where the author believes Miami ranks overall. Kenyan Drake, Frank Gore, Kenny Stills, DeVante Parker, Danny Amendola, and the rotation of tight-ends. 31st.

Miami fans are not stupid and we all know that the Dolphins are one of those teams that could surprise everyone or surprise no one. We know that the Dolphins are not the best in the NFL and that any ranking of them would likely fall in the mid-low teens. 31st however is more than a bit much.

Let’s breakdown his comments line by line on why he put Miami at 31.

"No team falls further in this year’s rankings, as everything that looked promising for Miami in 2017 either didn’t work out or didn’t come back in 2018."

Fact – The Dolphins lost their starting QB in training camp and played with Jay Cutler. I could stop there but I won’t. Miami was a playoff team in 2016 and the loss of its top quarterback hurt the team as much as losing it’s starting LB, CB, two offensive lineman, and a rash of other injuries before the season kicked off. They fell pretty far from 2016 to 2017.

"Running back Jay Ajayi is gone and replaced by 35-year-old Frank Gore, who has nearly 15,000 carries on his back"

Yeah, he is gone and if the author would have done some research the Dolphins offense was better after Ajayi left. Kenyan Drake was one of the best runners in the entire NFL over the last month of the season. The Dolphins are not replacing Ajayi with Frank Gore, they already replaced him with Drake. And the results were a lot better. Remember Ajayi was a good runner for Miami but take away his three 200 yard games in 2016 and his overall numbers drop considerably.

"Jarvis Landry has been swapped out for Danny Amendola and Albert Wilson, who have combined for two 100-yard games over the past two seasons."

The Jarvis Landry argument. It’s a little old but understandable and at least here he used some stats. Landry is going to be hard to replace but the Dolphins quarterbacks also lose a crutch and because of that the ball can be spread around a bit more. It will be interesting to see how the Dolphins offense plays without that one single player.

"Tight end Julius Thomas whispered through a 388-yard, three-touchdown season, and he has been replaced in the lineup by second-rounder Mike Gesicki, a combination of round and position that has yet to produce even a 700-yard rookie season once."

A tortilla chip replacing Thomas would be an improvement and Gesicki should have little problem matching Thomas’ 2017 numbers. Remember, Thomas was a bust almost from the start with Miami. This should be an improvement. On paper and on the field and in this dude’s article.

"Kenny Stills was less efficient in a larger role, while DeVante Parker spent his presumed breakout season struggling with an ankle injury."

First Stills was not in a larger role. He prefaced his article by saying that contracts were not factored in but in this case he is doing just that without saying the word “contract”. Still’s didn’t fail in an increased role, he failed because Jay Cutler was throwing him passes. He failed, like Parker because Cutler threw more passes into the ground at the offensive lines feet than he did to his WR’s. Watch some film.

In addition, the author makes it a point that the Patriots who were ranked number one last year and are now ranked 8th is in part due to the loss of Danny Amendola and who they replaced him with. Yet no mention of Amendola being a part of the replacement plan for Landry exists in his article.

"The most exciting player left might be halfback Kenyan Drake, who could be squeezed by Gore and rookie fourth-rounder Kalen Ballage."

It amazes me that ESPN still is in business. It also amazes me that they fired half of their staff but some survived that probably shouldn’t have. Kenyan Drake is the Dolphins starter. He is the guy who will carry the majority. Gore is the back-up. He will see playing time but he knows his role with the Dolphins and if does take away carries it’s o.k. Keeping the both fresh is ideal. Multiple teams, oh, wait, almost all 32 teams have dual role runners. As for Ballage, he is not the present, he is part of the future plans at RB. For now, he will see more action on special teams.

Still need more information to be sold that this author is a little off base? He has the Browns ranked 13th. In part because three players are returning from 2017, the same team that didn’t win a single game. Yeah. I’ll leave it right there.