Miami Dolphins fans are now entering that parallel universe they have talked about for decades. The one where the Dolphins are not exactly what we expect them to be.
Somewhere in the "Dolphins multiverse," fans are having a fit over Jonah Savaiinaea's regression, but that isn't us. Miami head coach Jeff Hafley just did the inconceivable. He used the second-year guards' preseason game tape as a showcase of how he wants the offensive line, wait for it, to block.
Hafley says he showed clips of Jonah to the entire team where he was coming off the ball. Said he showed up.
— Travis Wingfield (@WingfieldNFL) August 15, 2026
He noted Patrick Paul, Will Kacmarek, Greg Dulcich, Kadyn Proctor as guys that were doing things he wanted to show to the rest of the team.
Miami Dolphins' Jonah Savaiinaea continues to turn heads after his first preseason game
There is a reason why fans are shocked, thrilled, excited, and everything in between. Savaiinaea was as close to being another massive draft bust as you could be after his rookie campaign. Last year was hard to watch. If there is such a thing as a human turnstile, Savaiinaea was it.
The rookie was regularly listed as one of the worst players in the NFL, with some going so far as to call him one of the worst players in the last decade, and not just for the Dolphins.
It is becoming apparent that the Dolphins' coaching staff may have been more to blame. Under Mike McDaniel and Chris Grier, the Dolphins wanted him to play on the left side, a position that didn't suit him. His struggles were noticeable, to say the least. The Dolphins' refusal to move him back to his natural right side only compounded the problem.
Enter Bobby Slowik. The Dolphins' new OC didn't have a loud voice last season, but he does now. Miami moved Savaiinaea back to the right side, and his camp practices have looked much better. On Friday night, he took one series of snaps with the rest of the starting offensive line and impressed his head coach enough to showcase his tape.
Savaiinaea is the notable one, but Travis Wingfield pointed out that Hafley also named several others for their tape as well, including rookies Kadyn Proctor and Will Kacmarek.
The Dolphins have a long way to go before they become serious contenders. There are curves ahead for every player as they continue to develop, but for one player whom many believed was heading out the door, his turnaround is giving fans hope for what this coaching staff might be able to do. After all, if they can make Savaiinaea into a starting-caliber lineman, what can they do with some of the others?
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