The Miami Dolphins will start training camp in a matter of weeks. Football is almost back. There is a lot of excitement surrounding the start of the 2026 season, and surprisingly, it has nothing to do with the prospect of winning.
For the second time in seven years, the Dolphins are undergoing a massive rebuild, but unlike 2019, there seems to be a far clearer vision of where this rebuild may take the team.
It isn't lost on the fans either. With the realization that the 2026 season won't be one of the books, the thrill of seeing this team play is increasingly getting higher.
Miami Dolphins face little pressure to win now thanks to a smarter approach to rebuilding
Dolphins fans have heard all the "We want to build a physical football team" talk. At first, they were skeptical, and they should have been. Now, they are seeing that the words from head coach Jeff Hafley and general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan weren't just cliches.
Hafley has his work cut out for him, but the good news is these Dolphins players won't be blessed with a cakewalk schedule like the Patriots were last season. Miami will be the underdog in nearly every game they play this year. Every win will be earned, and every loss will be an opportunity for development.
Fans know that this season will start slowly, but what will be fun to watch is how the players improve over the season, because it isn't just one position they will be watching. It will be all of them.
Malik Willis is the face of the franchise today. Fans are not concerned about whether or not he proves to be the face of the future. For fans, it's a win-win situation. If Willis succeeds, the Dolphins succeed. If he fails this year, the Dolphins will have a shot at a top QB prospect in next year's draft.
Every other unit on the Dolphins' roster is in the process of being reshaped and rebuilt. Miami is leaning heavily on youth. That too is exciting.
In 2019, the Dolphins gutted the roster with the hopes of building Patriots 2.0. It failed because the coach couldn't replicate the same culture in Miami. Why? Because the GM wasn't part of that culture and had no idea how to build it.
Grier and Flores couldn't agree on anything, so when Miami drafted Tua Tagovailoa the following year, there was immediate pushback because Flores didn't want the Alabama QB. From the start, the entire 2019 hopes of change were already over.
That isn't the case this year. Hafley and Sullivan are from the same cultural system. They have the same ideas and want to mold the same image on the field and in the locker room. Will it work? That is unknown, but it feels different. Fans can feel it too.
There is less focus on recreating a system and more of a focus on creating an identity. The draft showed Miami's resolve to find players who fit into what they want to accomplish.
For Dolphins fans, this is what training camp will be about. It won't be the "ooh's and aahs' of a deep pass completion, but instead, the improvements from day one to the final game of the season. This year, fans know, sets this team up for the future, and they want to be witnesses to it.
Unlike previous camps, it's not about seeing a marquee name like Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle, or Tua Tagovailoa. It's about watching their favorite team become a team.
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