The Miami Dolphins continue to battle at the midway point of 2019
As we turn the corner to the second half of the NFL season the Miami Dolphins have a win on their record. The last few weeks have shown that the team has a fight in them.
They have held their own through various parts of games and the game against the Jets saw them put enough together, coupled with the Jets struggles, the Dolphins emerged with the win, but what have we seen at the halfway point?
Heading into the season, with new coach Brian Flores and his staff as well as first-year GM Chris Grier, we knew there would be a changing of the guard and the environment at Hard Rock Stadium. The new leadership of the team was faced with a substantial task of cleaning up the books from contracts that were given to players that did not live up to their contracts or didn’t fit in the system. Also, they were faced with a decision to rebuild or continue in the purgatory of 6-10 to 9-7 records.
With the rebuild, decisions would need to be made on who to keep, who to let go in free agency, who to resign, who to draft. We were all surprised by some of the trades that were done sending players that were fan favorites away to other teams as well as some of the signings that did and did not happen. Seeing the likes of Kenny Stills, Laremy Tunsil, Kenyan Drake, Kiko Alonso, and Minkah Fitzpatrick all get traded, definitely stung and seeing success by them with their other teams gave us mixed feelings of sad it was not with the Miami Dolphins, but happy for them to have success. The result of the trades meant not only acquiring a stockpile of draft capital but stripping the team down to its foundation.
It also meant that the first part of the season would be difficult to say the least, both with top tier opponents to start the season as well as the depleted roster due to a litany of injuries. The storm was weathered however and the team started to gel through the weeks and especially after the bye week, started to really show some fight. Although the first seven games all resulted in losses, the later weeks saw the games certainly be more competitive.
Looking forward to the second half of the season, the Dolphins play against the Colts on the 10th, and although they have tough games against the Bills, Eagles, and Patriots they also have winnable games against the Bengals, Jets. The Browns and Giants are also struggling and should provide favorable matchups should their struggles continue. Most in the fanbase is looking at the draft, the overwhelming chatter that the team should select a quarterback with their first of three first-round selections in the 2020 NFL Draft.
Although I wrote in a previous piece about the need to draft a quarterback first. Although I stil feel strongly about the need to draft a quarterback, but also the right quarterback to build around I am finding myself leaning more towards wanting the team to pick the best available and look at quarterback later in the first or even in the second round. As of late the top player in the draft looks to be Chase Young. The idea of Young wreaking havoc on opposing offenses for the Dolphins is an intriguing possibility.
With the win, the draft order becomes a bit more cloudy. Although currently penciled in at number 3 behind the Bengals (0-8) and the Jets (1-7) ESPN lists them as having a 93% chance at having a top-five pick as well as 37% to have the top overall pick.
As stated there is still a lot of the football to be played, the second half of the season should be interesting. One thing is for sure, the Dolphins are trending in an upward direction and will continue to give it their all every game. They should get our support to play their best and hopefully get a few more wins. Despite missing out on the possibility of the top pick, the team’s leadership has garnered my support.