With Josh Rosen, Miami Dolphins may not be that bad in 2019
By Brian Miller
The Miami Dolphins “tank for Tua” campaign may be over before it even begins and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
For the last several months the Miami Dolphins have been linked to a local media driven mantra of “tank for Tua”. The hopes of getting a Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa in the first round of next years draft. Now the question is will the Dolphins be bad enough to get a top QB in 2019?
That is still a tough question to answer and we know that Chris Grier and new head coach Brian Flores emphatically deny that they would ever lose on purpose and Flores says he hates even the mention of it. Now that Josh Rosen is on the team, the Dolphins may not be bad enough to get a top five pick.
Tony Pauline of DraftAnalyst.com released a way too early 2020 mock draft and has the Dolphins selecting in the 15th spot. Others believe that the Dolphins could finish in the middle of round one after the 2019 season ends. Is Josh Rosen that guy that will get Miami to a 7-9 or an 8-8 finish?
There is a lot speculation that the talent on the Dolphins offense is too good to finish so bad and land a top five draft pick. Rosen wasn’t very good last year and fingers point to the decimated offensive line and the system fit that didn’t suit Rosen’s ability. That finger swings back to Chad O’Shea and the Dolphins offense and the belief is the fit is that much better.
Saying that the Dolphins will finish in the middle of the NFL pack is easy to say but so is believing that the team will finish in the bottom five of the league. Coaching will have a lot to do with Miami’s success and failures and so will the youth on the roster.
Miami is expected to play the younger players in order to get them acclimated to the NFL and allow the coaching staff to evaluate that talent. While the Dolphins do have talent on offense we are still uncertain what O’Shea can do at OC. A position he has never held in the NFL before.
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Perhaps the bigger issue though is not whether Josh Allen can lead the team to more than a few victories because we really don’t know if he or Ryan Fitzpatrick will start. The issues that are more concerning come on the defensive side of the ball where Brian Flores will oversee new DC Patrick Graham.
Miami has a lot of holes and questions on defense, specifically at defensive end. The talent on defense is young and while they will inevitably add depth with veterans, the scheme change could take weeks to start showing signs of life.
Josh Rosen alone won’t make the Dolphins better on the field but there is potential and while, yes, he could lead the team to a few more wins, until we actually start seeing the roster shape up, we simply don’t know how 2019 will unfold.
The bigger question is why anyone would really complain if the Dolphins finished the season 8-8 or 7-9. Given the current roster situation, either of those records would indicate an upward trend for a team that is so full of youth and a coaching staff that are basically all rookies at their jobs.
8-8 might be a typical Miami Dolphins season but next year, that could mean something special is on the horizon.