The Miami Dolphins can now officially look ahead to the 2025 season after being eliminated from the playoffs in Week 18. Should Dolphins fans?
Following the loss, a lot more questions rose to the top of the curdling coffee. Tyreek Hill dropped an emotional bomb about his future. Mike McDaniel didn't know what was going on with his top wide receiver or why he was out in the fourth quarter.
Following the game, Stephen Ross released a statement that no changes were going to be made to the hierarchy of the team, meaning Chris Grier and McDaniel will both be returning next year. In some respects, it makes sense.
The way the Dolphins are currently built, it makes no sense to get rid of McDaniel, and hiring a new general manager would only serve to put more pressure on the head coach as well as undue pressure on the general manager to fix the problems in a single year. Running it back with both is the right decision, as many other fans are realizing after having time to digest the news.
So, what should fans be thinking about next season? Can this team suddenly turn it around and challenge for the playoffs or, dare we say it, the Super Bowl? Clearly, that is what we, as fans, want to believe, but there are reasons that may not be the smart move.
Why the Miami Dolphins could be worse in 2025 than 2024
1. Dolphins don't have a lot of salary cap space to fix their roster
According to Overthecap.com, the Dolphins have just over $365,000 in cap room heading into 2025. That does not take into consideration the cap adjustments, player contract terminations, and other factors, but it is a good barometer of what Miami may have to spend.
This is a deeper topic that needs to be explored, but the likelihood of the Dolphins having funds to fill their potential holes with quality players isn't going to happen.
Miami has 24 impending free agents ahead of the 2025 season. Some will come back on low-end one-year deals, but they will also eat into the Dolphins' cap. Dolphins fans need to be aware that this roster and cap situation is not conducive to making big moves in free agency.
2. Mike McDaniel has given no indication he is capable of growing
Dolphins fans love but are growing tired of McDaniel. After three seasons, Miami is marginally better than they were when he took over, but the team is clearly undisciplined and unmotivated. That has been a knock on his tenure thus far in each of his three seasons.
The Dolphins can't afford to enter 2025 keeping things the way they are, and that means McDaniel must change his approach.
McDaniel can't become a disciplinarian head coach. That boat left a while ago. Still, he has to stop coddling the team, and he needs to be a better head coach, but there is little faith he can.
The offense is built for his system which is not working. That roster will undergo big changes after next season. He has one year to show his system can work.
3. Dolphins play a tough schedule in 2025
Perhaps the biggest knock on the Dolphins is they can't beat good football teams. They didn't in 2023, and they didn't again in 2024. Next season, Miami will play six 2024 playoff teams, and three of their other opponents, the Atlanta Falcons, Indianapolis Colts, and Cincinnati Bengals, narrowly missed making the postseason as well.
Miami struggles in cold weather as well, and in 2025, they will play five games against teams that could potentially be late in the season in bad weather.
Add to this schedule the fact Miami will also play overseas in 2025, where they have traditionally struggled, it isn't a great lineup for the Dolphins if they can't change the narratives against them.
4. Talent on the Dolphins roster is good, but is it really great?
Grier is tasked with getting McDaniel players to help the team win. We already explored why the cap is a problem, and while he has draft picks available, he typically hits on one or two at most in any given draft.
That won't be enough to fill multiple holes. The Dolphins need help along the offensive line, wide receiver, quarterback, safety, linebacker, defensive line, and corner. How Grier fills the roster is going to be a big talking point.
5. Too many one-year deals have created a bad situation for the Dolphins that could implode in 2025
The concept in Miami has been they can rely on players like Jaylen Waddle, Tyreek Hill, and Tua Tagovailoa to move the ball offensively while leaning on mid-round running backs to carry the load of the rushing attack.
On defense, Miami believed they could get by with longer deals for Jordyn Brooks and Zach Seiler while hoping Bradley Chubb and Jaelan Phillips could return.
Entering the 2025 offseason, Miami will have only three starters from the offensive line under contract. Austin Jackson, Terron Armstead, and Aaron Brewer.
Most of the Dolphins depth and interior line will be free agents. On the defensive line, two players will be under contract including Seiler. Only Patrick McMorris is under contract at safety.
Grier used a lot of money to keep Hill happy last year, gave Waddle a big extension, and Tagovailoa's contract kicks in as well, entering 2025.
Add the Jalen Ramsey money and Terron Armstead's restructure, and the Dolphins had no choice but to sign a bunch of deals on one-year contracts. That will be the case again in 2025.