The Miami Dolphins will be looking to improve on the squads 8-8 season it had in 2015 with key additions to bolster the roster in free agency and in the draft.
Defensive Additions
Miami has bolstered it offense with the signing of former Detroit Lions Defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh to a six year $114 million. Surely the defensive line will now break through the offensive lines and give other teams little time to make plays. Suh is considered one of the top defensive line players in the league. He will be replacing Jared Odrick who left in the off-season to Jacksonville.
The Dolphins had a promising start to 2014 going 6-4 before the defense fell apart on the team and couldn’t keep teams out of the end zone.
Offensive Preview
Ryan Tannehill got his much deserved four year contract extension in the off-season with $45 million in guarantees. In 2014, just the quarterbacks third season at the helm in Miami, he continued to make strides. He threw for 4,045 yards, 27 touchdowns and just 12 interceptions while rushing for 311 yards and completing 66% of his pass attempts on the season. While he still has yet to get the team to the playoffs he continues to show improvement every year and keeps getting better and better.
For rushing assist, Miami used its fifth round pick to pick up Jay Ajayi from Boise State who will likely be used for third down situations and help Lamar Miller with the rushing game.
Wide Receiver Upgrades
To assist him the Dolphins picked up 6’ 3” wide receiver DeVante Parker in the draft. There were some worries though after he got signed, as he needed surgery to replace a screw in his foot but Head Coach Joe Philbin believes the rookie will be back in time for week one. Besides drafting a wide receiver the club also picked former Green Bay Packers veteran Greg Jennings to assist on offense. To help with red zone efficiency Miami signed 6’ 5” tight end Jordan Cameron.
The squad got rid of wide receiver Mike Wallace who essentially quit on his team last season when he refused to go back into the game in the season finale.
Prediction
So far in the preseason the team has started 0-2. However when the starters are on the field this team looks sharp, in those two matches Tannehill has completed 80% of his passes. In Saturday’s game against the Panthers he was 12 for 15 for 102 yards. In those two matches he’s recorded a passer rating of 126.9.
In those two matches the defensive pickups have been masterful, Suh is already making lots of noise on the line. Safety Walt Aikens has also been a standout surprise in the opening two games. The defense started out with two consecutive three and outs against the Panthers starters.
Miami will get started on the right foot with a key win against the Washington Redskins and get on a roll early, they will finish somewhere in the 11-5 to 12-4 range giving the New England Patriots a run for the division title possibly even making it come down to the week 17 match up in Miami to decide the division. With the additions on both offense and defense it would be hard to see them doing any worse unless they get hit with the injury bug or just bad luck.