Phin Phanatic

The Miami Dolphins have completely changed course as an organization. There are usually four individuals who are most responsible for the product on the field: the owner, the general manager, the head coach, and the quarterback. While it's virtually impossible to force an owner to sell a team — not that fans should want that anyway — the other three positions are starting anew.

It's been hard to find many in the media who have much nice to say about the Miami Dolphins ahead of the 2026 season. To be fair, it's not without good reason. After an offseason full of high-profile departures under new general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan, the roster isn't exactly built to contend for much of anything this season.

With the Miami Dolphins' offensive line shaping up to be a major question mark in 2026, Aaron Brewer’s contract extension set a precedent for the coming years. The Texas State prospect signed a three-year, $52.5 million extension with $37 million guaranteed last June. Now, the Dolphins have locked in one of the premier centers in the NFL. Dolphins fans understand that as long as he remains healthy, he’s fully capable of living up to his contract and anchoring the offensive line.

Just about every NFL team that shares a state with big-time college football programs has a large segment of the fanbase that roots for — and perhaps slightly overrates — the talent coming out of said schools. For the Miami Dolphins, this includes the University of Miami, the University of Florida, and Florida State University. Fans often want to see the team draft players from these schools, and it's easy to see why.

In 2024, the Miami Dolphins used their second-round pick (55th overall) on an absolute door of a human being in 6'7", 326-pound left tackle Patrick Paul. While former general manager Chris Grier receives a lot of well-earned criticism around these parts, his investment in a Terron Armstead replacement before it was absolutely necessary proved prescient.

The Miami Dolphins are a very unfamiliar team at this point in time. Comparing the team's 90-man roster from June 1, 2025, to June 1, 2026, reveals that there are only 36 survivors from the Grier–McDaniel era. What's more, that number will undoubtedly shrink even further when cutdown day approaches. One position group that saw considerable destruction was the team's EDGE rushers.

If you polled 100 Miami Dolphins fans on the team's pound-for-pound best player, I'd be willing to wager that De'Von Achane would take the lion's share of votes. That's no slight to Jordyn Brooks, who is a ten-car-pileup waiting to happen on any given down, nor to Aaron Brewer, who cemented himself among the upper echelon of offensive linemen with a second-team All-Pro nod in 2025. Achane's dynamism blurs the lines of reality, though.

Wide receiver Jaylen Waddle quickly became a fan favorite with the Miami Dolphins after he was selected in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft. His speed, quick cut ability, and a perfect non-selfish attitude were incredibly hard to dislike. Now, he will bring those attributes to the Broncos. Waddle's rookie season broke Dolphins' historical records at the position, but Mike McDaniel took his ability to another level in 2022. Waddle went from a 1,000-yard receiver to a 1,300-yard receiver.

The Miami Dolphins made no attempts to hide their intentions of kicking off a roster rebuild this offseason. General manager Jon Eric Sullivan and head coach Jeff Hafley are building the team from the ground up. Naturally, that has the Dolphins near the top of 2027 mock drafts. Despite the offseason addition of Malik Nabers, who hasn't exactly been set up for success, Miami is commonly paired with top quarterback prospects in the upcoming draft class.

This time of the season is generally a quiet one when it comes to the NFL. With minicamps in the rearview and training camps still to come, fans are either left yearning for news or focusing elsewhere. This week, though, those yearning got something to discuss when ESPN published its running back rankings for the 2026 season. It's important to note that the rankings came from a combination of NFL executives, coaches, and scouts, and weren't exactly the opinions of ESPN's Jeremy Fowler.