The Miami Dolphins' 2024 season is one worth forgetting, but at the same time, you have to wonder what a few more games with Tua Tagovailoa might have brought the team in terms of wins.
While fans won't want to hear it, the Dolphins did not look like a team that would have lasted long in the playoffs had they made it this past season.
With Miami's season over and the NFL now one weekend away from knowing who the two Super Bowl teams will be, predictions for next season are ramping up.
ESPN's Jeremy Fowler recently wrote that after talking with some NFL executives, many believe the Dolphins will take a slight step backward next season. How much is a "slight step?"
"Another team on the radar here is Miami, which has shown promise and narrowly missed the playoffs but is largely stuck in the middle," Fowler wrote.
Miami started the season 2-6, then finished 6-2 before dropping the last game of the season while they were scoreboard-watching the Broncos beat the Chiefs. Are they taking a step back from 8-9 season to 7-10, or are they stepping back further? If Miami didn't make the playoffs this year, it doesn't sound like they will predicted to do so next year.
If that turns out to be the case, no one is viewing the 2024 season as a fluke, but instead a new direction.
There are plenty of reasons why the Dolphins could be worse next season
Mike McDaniel will enter the season on the proverbial hot seat, and if Chris Grier isn't, then Stephen Ross should be forced to sell the team. Grier has had since 2016 to fix his issues, while McDaniel finished his third season making similar mistakes from his first.
The Dolphins will enter the 2025 offseason needing to trim salaries to become cap-compliant, but they also need to fill roster holes. While the top 51 players count toward the cap in the offseason, the Dolphins still have to manage that cap, and they have to find players who can supplement their needs. The draft won't provide all of them.
Coaching is also a problem that could get bigger. Anthony Weaver could take a head coaching job this cycle, and Miami has already fired special teams coordinator Danny Crossman and wide receivers coach Wes Welker. The Patriots are reportedly trying to get linebacker coach Ryan Crow to New England.
All of this and a lot more add up to big changes that may not inevitably be good for Miami.