One more week and the Miami Dolphins will be playing in Week 1 in the NFL. Who are these Dolphins though? Seriously, as a fan of this team for over 50 years, I have never been in a position where I literally have no idea what to expect from our Miami Dolphins. I’ll start with the Preseason, where our starters played all of one drive in Preseason Game 1 against the Washington Commanders. Both the offense and defense looked great in that one series, but that was it. The rest of the preseason was spent trying to identify which players deserved to make the 53 man roster, and even after that was determined, more than a handful of those players were quickly replaced by waiver wire pickups, which will probably continue. We saw only vanilla, no real indication of scheme on either side of the ball, and we saw a lot of players that either off the roster or will have lesser roles on the team.

I love this, I’m telling you I think this is so much fun. We have the youngest team in the NFL, necessitated of course by former GM Chris Grier handing out bloated contracts like Oprah Winfrey handed out cars at her show. YOU get a contract, YOU get a contract etc etc etc. All of us here know HOW we got to this point, but I think you should all enjoy it. We all have different ideas of how we want to root for our team. There have been vets on this team that I personally had a difficult time rooting for, one in particular you know very well. Safe to say there isn’t ONE player on this team that I will have difficulty rooting for. That’s exciting! It’s funny how we did a season record prediction here just a week or so ago, and I think how pointless an exercise that was because none of us have seen what this team really is, besides being very young. Give Sully credit for nailing down the deserving veteran players that earned the right to get contract extensions like C Aaron Brewer, ILB Jordyn Brooks and RB De’Von Achane. I love these guys and are glad they’re on our team.

On offense, we went from having a guy under center with chains and cement blocks on his feet to a guy with wings on his feet. Malik Willis truly is the “Anti Tua”. This doesn’t mean Willis will be running wild all over the field, and hopefully he’s not running for his life, but there is a tremendous contrast now having an athletic QB who can run, with a strong arm to make most NFL throws to having a Qb scared to get hit and stuck in quicksand with only the awareness to make sure he never really got hit. It’s amazing that 3rd RD Pick WR Chris Bell has been activated and played a good amount of Preseason game 3 against Atlanta. Speaking of “Anti Tua”, the Atlanta Falcons have yet to name their starter when the choice is between Tua and a QB who hasn’t even be cleared to play yet in QB Michael Penix. That is NOT good for Tua at all. Atlanta has FOUR QB’s on the roster, Tua Tagovailoa, Michael Penix, Cooper Rush and Jack Strand. There is a very real possibility that the Falcons cut down to 3, and it won’t be one of the guys named after Tua, but Tua himself that is first to go. I have heard Atlanta really likes the potential of QB Jack Strand 6’5 240, and Penix was THEIR 1st RD pick in 2024, and Cooper Rush is a solid veteran backup. Falcons are only paying Tua a bit over a million, while of course the Miami Dolphins are paying $54M. Tua will probably get his chance to spend more time with his family.

We have 3 rookie WR’s that made the team, and all are active. Right now WR Caleb Douglas is the only one in a starting spot on the right side, with veteran Jalen Tolbert on the left side. The slot belongs to WR Malik Washington, but behind (maybe very close behind) both Tolbert and Washington are WR Chris Bell on the left side and WR Kevin Coleman in the slot. I think both of those guys (Bell and Coleman) are going to play a lot of football, but it might not be until a few weeks into the season, or who knows, maybe the 2nd half of game 1. That’s how unpredictable things really are. Rookie TE Will Kacmarek is banged up, but if he’s healthy, he will probably be on the field much more than TE Greg Dulcich will be because unlike Dulcich, Kacmarek is an excellent blocker and most of us believe this team will be running the ball a lot, although that remains to be seen.

The offensive line, the very same one that looked fabulous on the only drive they participated in the entire Preaseason will be as follows: LT Patrick Paul, LG rookie Kadyn Proctor, C Aaron Brewer, RG Jonah Savaiinaea and RT Austin Jackson. I loved that small glimmer we saw, but as we know, the odds of those 5 playing together for a lot of games is very slim. We have found out the hard way the last couple of seasons with RG James Daniels playing just 3 snaps, and RT Austin Jackson playing only 6 games. Hopefully our depth there isn’t tested early on, but behind LT Patrick Paul is newcomer LT Chukwuebuka Godrick, at LG rookie LG DJ Campbell, behind Brew is C Andrew Meyer and at RT is former Patriot RT Caedan Wallace. I’m hoping to see a lot more of the starting this season, let’s brush aside the curse and be a surprise success on the O-line. We all know the trenches are where games are won, so if our starting 5 O-line stays healthy, look out!

On defense, last year’s draft class will have a strong presence on the D-line. Unfortunately, our 1st pick last year DT Kenneth Grant will be OUT Week 1, and it appears our base defense will be a 4-3 formation. In that base defense, it will be LE Chop Robinson, LDT Jordan Phillips, RDT Zach Sieler, and RE Joshua Uche. DT Zeek Biggers will definitely see loads of playing time, and I honestly believe that RE Joshua Uche is a placeholder unless he does some good work. Kenneth Grant has been somewhat of a disappointment, and a slow start to this year doesn’t bode well either. Just keep in mind that Grant was not a Sully draft pick, so if he doesn’t start performing he will probably end up off this roster. A late development shook up the LB corps when veteran ILB Tyrel Dodson was released. This leaves the starting LB corps as follows: LB Jordyn Brooks moves from ILB to WLB, rookie LB Jacob Rodriguez will be the MLB and and then the Dolphins will have another inside LB, which would be LB Willie Gay. Also prominent will be the Nickel Package, which would replace LB Willie Gay with Nickel Corner Chris Johnson. At Safety it will be rookie FS Zayne Anderson and SS Dante Trader. At CB, it will be a combination of LCB Juju Brents, RCB Jason Marshall Jr., and RCB Chris Johnson. Only Jeff Hafley knows how much base 4-3 and how much nickel we will be playing.

Special teams will have last year’s PK Riley Patterson who was superb last season nailing 27 of 29 FGA. Patterson was 3-4 beyond 50 yards. Newcomer Bradley Pinion will be the Punter. 1 year vet Malik Washington will handle both PR/KR duties, with RB Jalen Wright as the backup KR and rookie WR Kevin Coleman as the backup PR. Gone on ST’s is LB Cameron Goode who was a solid special teamer. Not sure who will be the next Cam Goode but my bet would be on LB Jackson Woodard or LB/S Kyle Louis. What I haven’t really discussed yet is the “other” formations on defense. We know Hafley is going to do a lot of things with our young rookies that won’t be starting, but should see the field on some different obvious passing situations for the offense. S/LB Kyle Louis will be one of those players as well as FS Michael Taaffe. When LB Trey Moore returns from IR he will also be one of those chess pieces used in special situations.

Reflecting on my pick of 7 wins I now realize picking wins and losses is a fools game at this juncture. I expect this team to have a much better attitude and show a lot more fight, heart and hustle. I also realize that we don’t really have a lot of proven NFL talent on this roster, beyond Brooks, Brew and Achane. Zach Sieler is a very good player and LT Patrick Paul is on his way. An awful lot of young players are going to have to step up and make it happen for this team to win games. I think it’s possible we can do that, but it’s also possible as this young team goes through the season that wins are hard to come by. I want to see this team play with a tough mindset. I don’t want guys standing around watching, I want guys moving and hitting. When you don’t have proven talent you have to out work and out hustle your competitor. That’s what I’m counting on. It was one special teams play I remember, FB DJ Herman was running downfield on a kick return and he found his target at pretty good speed and maintained a beautiful block. Im loved it, I want to see a lot of that. That’s how you beat a veteran team with proven talent.

I don’t think any of expected WR to be activated this early on, and I’d say none of us expected to see him suit up in PS 3 and play a whole bunch or snaps. I still think they may rein him in some early on, but you have to think with no setbacks physically, by October, we will see a whole lot of WR Chris Bell. Don’t sleep on WR Caleb Douglas. Achane is the offense, but I’m guessing Douglas is going to see a lot of targets, especially when Chris Bell isn’t in. I know a lot of you are expecting Dulcich to have a ton of receptions but I think once Kacmarek is totally healthy, unless we’re in 2 TE sets, Kacmarek will be on the field a lot more than Dulcich, especially if we’re having success running the ball. Maybe FB DJ Herman and Kacmarek together as well. Id be lying if I if I said I wasn’t disappointed with RB Jaylen Wright, and not just this preseason. I expected him to be a legit #2 back like RB Tyler Allgeier or RB Blake Corum, someone who the defense can’t let up on. We just haven’t seen it yet, but maybe Hafley can press the right buttons to get this kid kickstarted. We know the O will go through Achane, but you can’t have a huge dropoff when he comes out, so that’s where either Wright or even Ollie Gordon have to pick up their play. We’re wisely carrying 4 RB’s, and if Wright or Gordon don’t get their game in gear, RB Carlos Washington may just snatch the opportunity!

GO DOLPHINS!!!