NFL PREVIEW: 2020 MIAMI DOLPHINS

BY ADAM GREENE

Key Additions: OLB Kyle Van Noy (free agent), LG Ereck Flowers (free agent), DE Shaq Lawson (free agent), CB Byron Jones (free agent), DE Emmanuel Ogbah (free agent), RB Jordan Howard (free agent), C Ted Karras (free agent), ILB Elandon Roberts (free agent), OLB Kamu Grugier-Hill (free agent), C Clayton Fejedelem (free agent), RB Matt Breida (free agent), S Kavon Frazier (free agent)

2020 NFL Draft: QB Tua Tagovailoa, Alabama (round 1), OT Austin Jackson, USC (round 1), CB Noah Igbinoghene, Auburn (round 1), OG Robert Hunt, Louisiana-Lafayette (round 2), DT Raekwon Davis, Alabama (round 2), S Brandon Jones, Texas (round 3), OG Solomon Kindley, Georgia (round 4), DE Jason Strowbridge, North Carolina (round 5), DE Curtis Weaver, Boise State (round 5), C Blake Ferguson, LSU (round 6), WR Malcolm Perry, Navy (round 7)

Projected Offensive Starters: QB Ryan Fitzpatrick (for now), RB Jordan Howard, WR DeVante Parker, WR Preston Williams, WR Albert Wilson, TE Mike Gesicki, LT Austin Jackson, LG Ereck Flowers, C Ted Karass, RG Shaq Calhoun, RT Robert Hunt

Projected Defensive Starters: LDE Avery Moss, NT Davon Godchaux, RDE Christian Wilkins, WLB Vince Biegel, LILB Raekwom McMillan, RILB Jerome Baker, SLB Kyle Van Noy, LCB Xavien Howard, RCB Byron Jones, SS Eric Rowe, FS Bobby McCain

K: Jason Sanders

P: Matt Haack

Head Coach: Brian Flores

2019 Record: 5-11, 4^th place AFC East

A Look Back: Miami opened their 2019 campaign with a singular purpose; to tank the season in order to draft Tua Tagovailoa. It turns out that tanking was tougher than it looked as the Dolphins had apparently hired a competent head coach in Brian Flores who was somehow able to coax five victories out of a team that looked, on paper, like they could go 0-16.

Whatever star players they hadn’t managed to trade before the season started, they sent packing before the trade deadline and opened the year 0-7. Then, something stupid happened. They started to win games. Not many, mind you, but they went 5-4 to end the season including back-to-back dubs to close it out over the Cincinnati Bengals and New England Patriots.

In spite of their tanking plan going ass up, the Dolphins still managed to land Tua in the draft anyway thanks to the emergence of Joe Burrow. So, it all worked out.

2020 Projection: The Dolphins will likely open the year as one of the league’s most frustrating teams. There’s little doubt in an open QB competition that Fitzpatrick can beat out Tagovailoa, who hasn’t gotten so much as a minicamp amid the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic. Flores will probably go with Fitz and leave Tua to manage his Bumble profile on his Microsoft Surface tablet.

It’s unfortunate, because Tagovailoa, if he’s 100 percent healthy, needs all the real game reps he can get. And the difference between starting Fitzpatrick and Tua, against this schedule, probably amounts to a single extra victory.

The team has been smart, using the picks it acquired by shipping out talent wisely and building up its offensive line in free agency. While Flores did exemplary work last season and the team will be better, but their schedule is too unforgiving and any hope of playing in an AFC East without Tom Brady was dashed when the Patriots signed Cam Newton. You could have hoped for at least a split with the Pats, especially later in the year once the team hands the keys to Tagavailoa for good. But Newton to New England shuts all those hopes down.

2020 Projected Win Total: 5-11. Right now, the Dolphins pay at -135 for under 6.5 wins and at -145 for 5-9 victories, so the books and I see eye-to-eye once again. There are far too many good teams on their schedule, especially with cross-conference match ups with the NFC West to even sniff at .500, no matter how good a job Flores does.

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