3 Predictions for the Miami Dolphins’ schedule release

Miami Dolphins schedule prediction: Stay out West for a week

There are teams that have more distant locations (Seahawks), but the geographic location of Miami makes trips to the West Coast long and enduring. The Dolphins will do it twice this coming season when they travel to both Santa Clara and Los Angeles in order to play against the 49ers and Chargers.

But the NFL could do them a solid and schedule back-to-back away games in California in order to alleviate some of the travel stress. This way, the Dolphins would remain out West for the week, finding a hotel and a place to practice in whichever city comes second.

While it would be nice if the team were able to get the trip out of the way early in the season, that might not be the most beneficial for the win column. The away schedule for the Dolphins in 2022 features plenty of places where adverse weather is possible, and they’d love to avoid having to go down that road again after how the last two seasons ended.

There’s no snow in the Bay Area or in Southern California. If the league schedules a back-to-back sometime in December, then Miami would be far happier playing out West than having to play in the snow in Chicago, Cincinnati, or Baltimore.

It wouldn’t be the first time that they did this. Just as recently as 2016, the NFL scheduled games against the Chargers and the Rams in back-to-back weeks, allowing the Dolphins to remain in Los Angeles for a week instead of enduring two extra five-hour flights. Miami won both games en route to its first playoff appearance in nearly a decade.