The Miami Dolphins are not hiding from the fact that they are in the midst of a major rebuild, and any fans hoping that their team will surprise everyone this coming season can give up hope immediately.
The arrival of a new head coach and general manager was always going to mean changes, but when you pair it with Miami's contract issues and spiralling cap situation, wholesale changes became inevitable.
Talent aplenty has already departed, including Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle, and Minkah Fitzpatrick, while the Tua Tagovailoa cut only worsened the cap situation by a record total. The Dolphins are going to be picking up scraps this offseason while relying heavily on their haul of draft picks as they kick off this new build-through-the-draft regime.
With such limited resources, there is often a thought in the back of the minds of fans that an underdog story may be brewing, but Dolphins insider Isaiah Smalls of the Miami Herald may have just put those hopes to bed.
Miami Dolphins insider reveals just how far they have to go before being competitive once again
Speaking on the Dolphins in Depth podcast, Smalls issued a damning verdict. “On both sides of the ball, this is the worst roster I’ve seen, unfortunately," he said. "I think this is done pretty intentionally because, obviously, with the new regime, they have had to strip it down to the studs and start over."
Smalls added more context about his thoughts, including the reality of needing to let Tagovailoa go this offseason.
“They had a lot of bad contracts and to me, and I’ve always maintained this position, like with Tua, if you don’t think (...) he has a future on this team, just get rid of him and start over. At the very end of the day, it’s about building this roster in your image, whatever image that is. You can’t have someone who is a hanger-on at the most important position. It opens up the possibility of having a disgruntled player on your roster.”
That might just sum up how bad this Dolphins team is likely to be, and indeed the level of patience Phins fans are going to have to have as Jon-Eric Sullivan leads this rebuild. He even felt inclined to make his new quarterback aware of what he could be getting into.
After the Jaylen Waddle trade deal was struck with the Denver Broncos, many asked questions about whether new Dolphins QB Malik Willis was briefed on the likely scenario of his WR1 being traded. before agreeing to join Jeff Hafley in swapping Green Bay for South Florida.
But Sullivan confirmed on ProFootballTalk that those conversations were held, and that Willis was well aware that he would be leading a team entering the first phase of a major rebuild.
"You can connect the dots," Sullivan began. "There is a respect level that a new GM who has just brought a quarterback through the door would take. The conversations that we had I will keep private, but you can connect the dots there. I felt like the right thing to do was to kinda let him know what was going on and if he was comfortable moving forward."