Are the Miami Dolphins the worst team in the NFL?
By Shawn Digity
The Miami Dolphins have not been getting a lot of love in power rankings and sports-books. Bleacher Report released its updated power rankings leading up the season’s start and no love was lost with their take on the Dolphins.
The Miami Dolphins have taken a public beating and, in the eyes of the big NFL media, look like a team who will end up picking in the top 5 of next year’s draft. The two most recent power rankings renditions had the Dolphins listed dead last and second to last; only the Bills were ranked lower in the latter. You read that right; they were listed at 32 and 31. The Dolphins are perceived, at least by Bleacher Report, to be the worst team in the NFL.
To many Dolphins fans, including myself, this is a huge shocker. It’s unreasonable to have the Dolphins ranked so low considering that the two other AFC-East bottom-dwellers have more tumult and unproven players in their QB rooms. Both the Bills and Jets selected quarterbacks in this past April’s draft in Josh Allen and Sam Darnold, respectively.
Rookie quarterback success has proven to be limited as they learn the ropes and, often times, when they do find success it becomes a flash in the pan when they hit the “rookie wall”. Nathan Peterman might have been dubbed the starter for the Bills, but performances from his rookie season did not instill a lot of confidence, so Allen could get the starting nod sooner rather than later and the Jets have the textbook journeyman QB in Josh McCown.
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The Dolphins have an established veteran in Ryan Tannehill so they have an advantage in that column. Tannehill has an on-the-fence reputation in the NFL as many analysts and fans either seem to love him or hate him. He turned a corner in his first year with Gase in 2016 before injuring his knee, so it stands to reason that he could be better in 2018.
If the quarterbacking alone is the criteria we look at for team success (and it is the most important factor), then I look for the Dolphins to finish better in the AFC East than both the Bills and Jets. While the Patriots still reign supreme, the Dolphins could still prove to be a tenacious wild-card team. They won’t finish last in the AFC East so they won’t be the worst team in the division, never mind the entire league.