Finsmob Unleashed

I’m not here trying to piss on anyone’s cornflakes, but I feel it’s important to look at things from every angle, not just the positive spins that are churned out constantly by Dolphins shills like Travis Wingfield and others. No offense to Travis, he has a job to do, and that’s to portray this team in the brightest light he’s able to show them in. I’m not on the payroll, so you don’t need to worry about loyalty or allegiance from me! There’s a whole lotta talk that went around in the Rookie minicamp, there’s an “Attitude Adjustment” occurring here in Miami. I know some of you despise Mike Florio, feel that he has an agenda against the Dolphins. I think he’s just one of the few guys still out there that just says what he feels. I completely agree with what Mike said this morning on the Joe Rose, he’s a weekly guest there on Friday’s for many years.

Mike Florio said regarding the attitude adjustment that Head Coach Mike McDaniel is making here in Miami, holding players accountable, players shouldn’t be late for meetings etc. This is going to be year 4 for Mike McDaniel, so isn’t Mike McDaniel stating that there needs to be big changes in attitude basically admitting that we need a new Head Coach? I mean, we are who we are, and Mike McDaniel can’t turn into Don Shula after 3 seasons and be some kind of disciplinarian Head Coach that has his players full respect. He’s a friendly guy, tries to be one of the guys, and that’s who he is. Let’s also be honest about something else, it was far from just having trouble with the “inmates running the asylum”, he got beat up with X’s and O’s big time last season. The 2 deep zone which has been around since when Don Shula was in diapers was the “boogeyman” that killed our offense. We’re supposedly talking about one of the best offensive minds in the NFL, Mike McDaniel, and he was completely stymied by this age old concept and had no answer or remedy for it. SO, not only didn’t Mike McDaniel have control of the locker room and his players, but this offensive genius was slayed by a basic defensive concept older than dirt. If that doesn’t scream “We need a new Head Coach!”, what does?

As we all know here, the problems with the team go much deeper than the Head Coach, but actually start with the GM, Chris Grier who hired Mike McDaniel. I thought 2 heads should have rolled in this offseason, GM Chris Grier and HC Mike McDaniel. Right now we have more personnel issues than we should, the Jalen Ramsey disaster still lingers on, and don’t be shocked if the resolution is similar to what we just saw with the Green Packers and Jaire Alexander, who by the way makes it harder for the Dolphins to find a suitor for Ramsey while Jaire Alexander is now a free agent. Unfortunately, it’s not just Jalen Ramsey now, but our TE that we all enjoyed watching last season is holding out for more money after having his best season in the NFL. DT Zach Sieler was in attendance but he would also love an extension and raise commensurate with his play, and if anyone deserves that it would be Sieler. Problem is, GM Chris Grier threw money at all the wrong people, throwing additional monies to DB Jalen Ramsey (on the trade block), WR Tyreek Hill (quit on the team in Game 17), and gave QB Tua Tagovailoa a huge contract when they could have played him on his 5th YR option.

Now on to some positives. Phew! If you’re a Dolphins fan, or simply just a fan of humanity, and underdogs, you have to love Jaelan Phillips. NFL players sometimes go through hell, but this kid has really been through the wringer. He’s already seemingly healthy after knee surgery during a friendly fire injury, a collision making a tackle in which his own teammate obliterated his knee. That makes back to back years with significant injury rehabs, an achilles tear in 2023, and then an ACL tear in 2024. We know he’s a workout warrior, but the mental resolve and anguish he had to have endured is amazing, and I give this kid a ton of credit and hope he can have a fantastic 2025 season, the last of his contract by the way. In minicamp, our young defensive backs supposedly showed well, like Storm Duck, Isaiah Johnson, Kader Kohou, Jason Marshall and others. It would be wonderful if a couple of these guys stepped up and took the job, played well and never looked back.

On the negative side, yep, after a brief respite we’re back, sorry! OG James Daniels isn’t ready to participate which further reinforces my initial fear that he may not actually be ready to start the season. So much emphasis has been put on the offensive line, including throwing away draft picks to get OG Jonah Savaiinaea, but imagine if OG Liam Eichenberg has to start the season at LG in place of the prize of the free agent spending OG James Daniels can’t play? I think our front 7 could be a positive as long as the defensive line with Sieler, Grant and possibly Phillips are stout and get some push, along with the formidable pass rush potential from 2nd year LB Chop Robinson, rehab warrior Jaelan Phillips, and the very delayed return of LB Bradley Chubb who should be healthy by now, his last game was in 2021 (JBBLOL!), it was actually 2023.

As I made clear earlier in this article, the GM and HC are on shaky ground, even the most optimistic die hard Miami Dolphins has to realize this. While Mike McDaniel tries to reinvent his persona and relationship with the players in year 4, Chris Grier has to agonize over how he can improve the secondary with limited cap space, and most likely a “ban” on using any future assets to accomplish this. CB Asante Samuel Jr. is still available, and of course the aforementioned Jaire Alexander is now available as well, but you’d have to think the Dolphins who are looking borderline ridiculous for extending the contract and paying CB Jalen Ramsey more money, and then a few months later announcing that both parties have mutually agreed to part ways. Picking up a malcontent like Jaire Alexander would be insane, so don’t bet on it. Back to Asante Samuel Jr. who is supposed to have medical exams done on his neck in the next month or so and if he’s medically cleared, interest from the Dolphins and others will surely ramp up. I’m fine going forward with what we got, maybe we’ll be pleasantly surprised. I truly doubt we’ll see CB Cam Smith do anything good, that mistake will probably erased, and if Mike McDaniel can’t figure how to beat the 2 deep zone, that mistake along with “Mr Nice Guy” GM Chris Grier who everyone loves except actual fans of the team.

GO DOLPHINS!!!