Miami Magic

By Peyton Schultze

After an awesome finish to the 2019 regular season, there’s plenty of hope in the building for the youthful Miami Dolphins (via Five Reasons Sports Network).

As losers of their first seven games on the season, many were calling them one of the worst football teams of all-time. On a team where their two best players very well may have been a standout wide receiver and a journeyman quarterback after a flurry of offseason trades for future draft capital, many thought they had a real chance of going 0-16 on the season. How could they get anywhere any time soon without any players to build around, and how could they rise to the top of the division with the Patriots continuing to assert their dominance at the top?

That was sometime around November 3rd, right before Miami took the field and was able to secure the upset over the rival Jets for their first win of the season in a final score of 26-18 at home. From that point until the end of the season, the Dolphins were able to finish 5-4 in their last nine games and finished a mediocre, but not necessarily terrible, 5-11 on the year. This finish was highlighted by a shocking win in Week 17 on the road against the Patriots, with a game-sealing touchdown from Ryan Fitzpatrick to Mike Gesicki to take the lead late in the ballgame. The win gave Miami their fifth of the season, while the defeat sent New England into the third seed in the AFC before falling to the upstart Tennessee Titans over Wild Card Weekend. That point could easily be seen as a major turning point throughout the league, especially considering the effects of what has happened after in the offseason. With Brady now quickly out of the door and sitting in sleepy Tampa Bay, teams such as the Dolphins, Jets, and Bills finally have hope that they can return to the top of the AFC East. But will Miami continue to ride their wave of momentum from last year’s strong finish, or will they keep sitting at the bottom of the AFC with no clear end in sight?

Ryan Fitzpatrick did a nice job of filling in at quarterback last season, but Miami will likely look to draft a quarterback early on in the upcoming pool of players (Miami Herald).

Perhaps more so than any of the other teams drafting near the top in this year’s draft, the Dolphins have a sudden sense of hope that they can quickly find themselves back in the playoffs in the very near future. It’s odd to consider a 5-11 season a success by any means, but Miami truly may have been one of the worst teams on-paper in recent NFL history in 2019. But their amount of success last season really speaks to the job that first-year head coach Brian Flores and his staff were able to do for the Dolphins, especially considering their place in a division with two teams that appeared in last year’s playoffs.

So what exactly are the Dolphins in the market for in this year’s NFL Draft? By putting together a very nice offseason that saw them land top talents such as cornerback Byron Jones, linebacker Kyle Van Noy, defensive end Shaq Lawson, and running back Jordan Howard, Flores and company were able to do a nice job in free agency of filling up some key holes that plagued them in 2019. With that being said, the Fins still need plenty of help across the board if they want to return to glory any time soon, and their main concern likely stands at the quarterback position. Although Ryan Fitzpatrick did an excellent job of leading the Dolphins to some mild success in 2019, it is clear that he is not the long-term answer under center for Miami. With the Dolphins selecting at fifth overall, they should have plenty of options to consider if they plan to draft a new face of the franchise on offense. Although last year’s Heisman winner, LSU’s Joe Burrow, is expected to go first overall to the Bengals, the Dolphins will have several key quarterback options to choose from.

Yet it is anyone’s guess what happen in picks 2 through 4 before the Dolphins select, which could cause some major concern in Miami. Although Utah State’s Jordan Love and Oregon’s Justin Herbert are considered top quarterback prospects by many around the league, Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa appears to be the wild card figure in this year’s draft. Tagovailoa was a magician on the field for the Crimson Tide, helping lead Alabama to a dramatic National Championship win over rival Georgia and securing his legacy as a school legend during his three-year tenure. But injury concerns have many teams worried about his status as a franchise leader, especially considering the array of injuries he suffered during his time at Alabama. Even with his concerns, the left-handed gunslinger is widely-regarded as a positive figure in the locker room and has plenty of enticing comparisons being thrown upon him such as Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers, which could have Tagovailoa selected early on in the draft. If Miami wants him to be their next quarterback, and many early indications say that they do, they must be aggressive and willing to take risks in this year’s draft. Drafting the quarterback in the first place seems to already be a major risk, but a trade up to hold off other potentially interested teams such as the Chargers and Jaguars could easily make or break the state of the Dolphins for years to come.

The Dolphins have been consistently linked to former Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa in the pre-draft process (via Alabama Athletics).

So why exactly should the Dolphins put all their chips on the line and take a shot on Tua? For one, it speaks to the uncertainty of the other quarterback prospects in this year’s class. Although Love appears to be a nice dual threat talent, his lack of a resume in college is a concerning factor that could cause him to be a major bust. And while Herbert did put together a nice career at Oregon, his questionable footwork in the pocket and lack of elite numbers against cupcake PAC-12 defenses is something that stands out like a sore eye. Meanwhile, despite some key injuries in college, Tua played on the game’s biggest stage several times and did not miss really an extended amount of time until his junior season with the hip injury. There’s no doubt that his hip is a concern since it has so much to do with his throwing motion, but it does seem like an odd thing that many people keep thinking that Tua is an undraftable player just since he has been beat up a few times. And with the nagging ankle injuries that he also dealt with during his time at school, he still was able to toss 87 touchdowns and a mere 11 interceptions against good opponents in the best defensive conference in college football. So even on one healthy leg, he was still that good in college?

Teams throughout the league have dealt with major injuries to franchise players, and it seems questionable that any of those franchises would all of sudden opt to go in another direction because of injuries. Ask Green Bay if they would consider moving Aaron Rodgers just because he has hurt his collarbone a couple of times. Ask Philadelphia if they would move off the talent of Carson Wentz because of some freak injuries. Even Ben Roethlisberger just missed nearly a full season with an elbow injury, but Pittsburgh is easily welcoming him back to the lineup as their starter in 2020. This notion that the Dolphins should pass on Tua because of his injury history seems to be a little overblown, and it could be a massive mistake if Miami attempts to out-think the room in this scenario. Tagovailoa may not reach the wow-factor of Burrow after his phenomenal senior season at LSU, but he proved almost as much as any college quarterback in recent memory during his time with Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide. And if health over talent was such a major concern, would Saban publicly open up this much about how great of a contributor Tua was at Alabama after his notorious mistake of skipping over Drew Brees in free agency because of a shoulder injury during his time as a head coach in the NFL with these same Dolphins? There’s plenty of pressure on Miami to draft well and get back on top in this year’s draft, but their main goal should be very obvious: keep it simple and select Tagovailoa.

The Dolphins’ strong finish to the 2019 season under first-year head coach Brian Flores could signal a new era of football in Miami (via WPLG).

Miami is not, and does not, deserve to be recognized immediately as a serious threat in the AFC, but they do deserve plenty of credit for what has transpired in the past 12 months. By finding a solid head coach in Flores, stacking up some elite players on defense, and finally putting together a solid sense of direction in the organization, the Fins appear to be a team on the rise in the AFC. Yet the Dolphins did prove one thing quite clear last season: expectations never define exactly who a team is. With Miami currently continuing to exceed expectations, they simply cannot afford to sit back and relax at any point now that their fortunes have begun to slightly turn around.

It is quite clear that this year’s draft is absolutely crucial in South Beach. If Miami swings for the fences and hits a home run at quarterback, they could easily find themselves in a position to capture a Lombardi Trophy some time in the next decade with solid pieces around them. However, if Miami goes for it all and comes up significantly short, their whole plan could be blown up and jobs could easily be lost all throughout the organization. This draft is risky for plenty of reasons, from the health of several top prospects to the uncertainty of how the draft will play out virtually from different parts of the country. But if one thing is clear in the NFL, it is that teams who do not take risks and instead wait for things to pan out never reach their ultimate goal. The Dolphins are in a unique position where they could fall in line with what they have done for the past two decades, or they could opt to head in alternative route which teams such as the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens have followed. The time is now for the Dolphins to step up and change the course of their franchise’s recent history, and their path to relevance begins with next Thursday’s NFL Draft.