How quickly could the Miami Dolphins get through the rest of the rebuild?

The 2020 NFL season is about to officially kick-off with the start of free agency and the vision that the Miami Dolphins have for their future will begin too.

The Miami Dolphins tore it down last year. They recouped draft picks and have an impressive bankroll for 2020. So how fast could they finish the rebuild?

That’s the million-dollar question.

I think it could be faster than people anticipate. Using the word “rebuild” comes with a chain to tow, which means it won’t be an overnight occurrence. And I was using the word “tank” during 2019,  which might make the process seem even longer. But the hard part’s over.

The Miami Dolphins are set up to hit the ground running for the 2020 league year, assuming the new CBA passes and becomes active before free agency.

The Dolphins are projected to have 14 draft picks: 12 regular selections from their own assigned 2020 picks along with trades they made and two expected compensatory picks. Over the Cap has the Dolphins slated to receive a fourth- and seventh-round pick.

That’s not exactly news, though. Over the Cap also has the Dolphins projected to have $88 million in cap space. That’s the base number; the Miami Dolphins will get another boost from in the leaguewide salary cap increase. That ought to get the Dolphins pretty close to $100 million.

So the Dolphins have the means to lay the bricks for a new foundation. Many of the drafted players will get playing time almost right out of the gate, too.

With six picks in the first 70 selections, there will be expectations that they contribute for 2020 to some degree. The later-round guys — and possibly quarterbacks like Tua Tagovailoa or Jordan Love — will have more time to develop. But if 2019 is any indication, guys like Nik Needham, Shaq Calhoun, Myles Gaskin, and Isaiah Prince were called upon, so anyone could get thrown into the fire, really.

Back to the original question, how fast can the Dolphins start trending upward? I think the Dolphins could surprise. I don’t mean that they’ll surprise everyone by making the playoffs. But I think that they’ll demand more respect than last year.

An influx of rookies will help, but it might not help immediately. A lot of the success for 2020 will hinge on how quickly they can adapt to the speed; turbulence is expected, but once they get their bearings…

The free agents will help, too. That’s optimistic, but a few well thought out signings could tip the scale in the Dolphins’ favor.

Ryan Fitzpatrick was hardly the problem last year. In fact, he was a boon. He helped redirect DeVante Parker‘s career trajectory and truck-sticked opposing players like he was on the frontlines of Valhalla.

If the rest of the pieces are meshing together and Fitzpatrick plays on a similar level to 2019, then who knows how many wins the team is capable of.

The Dolphins will have the ability to give a facelift to many of the foibles of the 2019 team. New offensive linemen will be added, likely in both the draft and free agency. That’s the starting point for a lot of disgruntled fans and analysts.

Corners and safeties will be added. I like prospects in the late first- to second-round range in the draft like Jeff Gladney, Antoine Winfield Jr., Ashtyn Davis, Xavier McKinney, and Jaylon Johnson.

New edge players will be thrown into the mix, too. Maybe a trade for Yannick Ngakoue from the Jaguars is in the cards. Or perhaps the Dolphins will select someone like Yetur Gross-Matos, Josh Uche, or K’Lavon Chaisson.

There’s a lot of directions the Dolphins could go in. But the bottom line is that the sheer quantity of new players coming in will re-energize the team. They might not all hit in the long run, but some of them will. That’s what we’re looking for.

The next phase of the Miami Dolphins rebuild will be successful on the coattails of the numbers game. Now, as for the speed of the rebuild?

I think signs of success will occur as early as this upcoming season.