Feedback on Dolphins from analysts, metrics sites
W Aith the season opening on Sunday, feedback on the Dolphins from analysts and metrics sites: ESPN’s Damien Woody: “If this offensive line can perform better than last year — and they were atrocious last year — then I think this offense can be very scary. Speed scares a lot of people and they have a lot of it. This team has assembled a track team around Tua Tagovailoa. Tua has always been an accurate quarterback. Tua is ready to lead this team to the postseason.”
NFL Net’s Kurt Warner: “Last year, Tua completed 80some percent of his passes on throws 10 yards or less. Beyond that, he was only at 43 percent. The difference between great quarterbacks and everybody else is being able to make those chunk throws down the field with accuracy.
“We can throw Tyreek Hill bubble screens and jet sweeps and he’ll make a difference for us. Where Tyreek is a differencemaker is he can stretch the field. If Tua can consistently make those throws with Hill and Jaylen Waddle and company, that’s when this team can turn the corner. If he’s just going to be accurate with those RPOs and the dink and dunk throws, they are going to need a lot more, in
Amy opinion.”
ESPN’s Robert Griffin III: “Tua hasn’t had an opportunity to truly show the NFL world who he is. Last year, he was throwing behind the 32nd best passing blocking unit in the league. At times, it seemed like the coaching staff wasn’t sold on him, wouldn’t let him push the ball down the field. Tua is accurate.
“They did a great job bringing in Terron Armstead and Connor Williams, who’s an upgrade at center. They put so many weapons around Tua and brought in an offensive-minded coach. Erik Ezukanma was a phenomenal wide receiver at Texas Tech.
“I think they will take a big leap. If Tua goes 25 touchdowns, seven interceptions, that’s a great year. The benefit Tua has is there’s no expectation for a Super Bowl this year. Can Tua take that big leap and include a playoff berth? I think he can do that.” ESPN’s Mike Tannenbaum: “They’ll be the third-best team in the division because of the quarterback. [New England’s] Mac Jones is more consistent inside the pocket. From a skill-set standpoint, Mac is [better]. If I’m Miami, they still have a first-round pick in San Francisco’s. But that puts them behind Houston, Detroit, Seattle and Philly. Those teams have two first-round picks. If they look at the landscape this year and next year, knowing it’s going to be hard for them to get up in the draft, they might want to consider Jimmy Garoppolo as their best option because this is a playoff-caliber team besides the quarterback position. He could be their best option not just short term but years to come.”
AAESPN’s Chris Canty: “If Tua is a solid quarterback and is available for all 17 games, there’s no reason the Dolphins can’t find themselves in the playoffs. They have a championship-level defense that’s going to continue to ascend when you have young players like Jevon Holland and
Jaelan Phillips, not to mention
Christian Wilkins and company.”
NFL Net’s Daniel Jeremiah: “This whole offseason we focused on Tyreek Hill. There are other members of this offense I think will fit beautifully and benefit from the speed of Tyreek Hill, namely Mike Gesicki.”
ESPN’s Louis Riddick: “I wouldn’t change a thing about the way Tyreek Hill has approached this offseason in terms of being supportive of Tua. Human beings appreciate when human beings believe in one another. That’s going to pay dividends down the road in crucial moments. Tua will have the best season of his career by far.”
ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky: “The Dolphins are going to be a really, really good football team.
They’re a lot closer to the Buffalo Bills than people know. Mark my words: Tua will have over 4,000 yards and over 25 touchdowns passing this season.”
Former Patriots running back
James White, now an ESPN analyst: “I could see them [starting] 1-3. Tua hasn’t shown enough promise. It’s put-up or shut-up time for Tua. You got to see something now.”
ESPN’s Bart Scott: “The Dolphins are a sneaky pick for a deep run in the postseason.”
Analytics site Pro Football Focus rates the Dolphins’ wide receivers and tight ends third
AAAAAAAbest in the NFL, behind only Cincinnati and Tampa Bay. But PFF rates the Dolphins’ running backs only 28th, ahead of Atlanta, Kansas City, the Rams and Houston.
PFF ranks Gesicki 13th among all tight ends, noting: “Over the past two years, Gesicki has racked up the third-most receiving yards against single coverage among tight ends and leads the pack in contested catches on such plays.” He’ll get lots of single coverage because of Hill.
PFF ranks Hill sixth among receivers and Waddle 30th and lists Armstead as the No. 6 offensive tackle in football, but notes his injury history and “that he’s played over 80% of the team’s offensive snaps just three times in his career.” Over the past four seasons, he played 62, 88, 82 and 43 percent of the Saints’ offensive snaps.
PFF ranks the Dolphins’ secondary as the fifth-best in football, but the linebackers just 22nd, noting that “Elandon Roberts and Jerome Baker are average linebackers.”
Found this interesting: PFF said the Dolphins have two of the top 25 interior defensive linemen in football. The website ranked Wilkins 12th, calling him one of the best run defenders at his position last season.
PFF rated Zach Sieler 24th, noting that his PFF grade last season ranks in the top 10 for all interior linemen. PFF also called Sieler the Dolphins’ most underrated player.
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Receiver DeVante Parker has spent his first Patriots training camp and preseason on the
Asecond team. “He’s definitely going to want to have a good game,” Xavien Howard said. “I’m going to expect his best. There are other guys, too — Jakobi Meyers and Nelson Agholor.”
Baker said it takes much longer to adjust to South Florida heat than the three days that
New England spent in Palm Beach practicing this past week. Patriots safety Devin McCourty said: “Being down here has gotten guys acclimated to the heat. Desperation? I don’t see it like that. It’s been good for us.”
McCourty said Patriots cornerback Jonathan Jones can run well enough to keep up with Hill, and that’s overlooked.
During a recent appearance on Andre Iguodala’s podcast,
Dwyane Wade bemoaned his decision not to push for more money during his career; his decision to take less made it easier for LeBron James and
Chris Bosh to join the Heat. “I think I gave up $17 [million] or $20 million,” Wade — now a Utah Jazz part-owner — said. “I could have pushed the envelope a little bit more. There was a lot of things that at the time, as a player, you really didn’t know.”
From what we sense, it would be surprising if Don Mattingly returns as Marlins manager next season. I expect significant organizational changes.
During the first year of the 12-team college football playoff (2026), UM has Florida A&M, BYU and Central Michigan as home non-conference games, and South Carolina on the road. UM is at Pitt, at Virginia Tech and at Louisville in its toughest conference games and home to FSU.
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