Miami Dolphins: Complete rebuild now in full effect
The Miami Dolphins have a new head coach in Brian Flores, but they’re also apparently starting from scratch and going in on a complete rebuild.
Following a 7-9 record in the 2018 season, the Miami Dolphins front office made the decision to part ways with Adam Gase, hiring former Patriots defensive coordinator Brian Flores as his replacement. The changes haven’t stopped there, though, as they cut ties with Ryan Tannehill via trade and signed veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick to take over at quarterback for the 2019 season.
It’s clear that the Dolphins are taking this team in a new direction. And, while no one in the NFL wants to use the word “tanking”, it appears that’s what the Dolphins might well be doing as they go into the 2019 campaign. All the signs are there that this is the start of a complete rebuild.
Trading Tannehill — who was rumored to likely be cut if the Dolphins couldn’t trade him — and then signing Fitzpatrick signals a changing of the guard at the quarterback position. However, the veteran with the magnificent bears is not a long-term solution, and surely Miami will be looking for one.
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While that may be the case, the Dolphins aren’t particularly in a position where they’re going to be able to take a future signal-caller in the 2019 NFL Draft. For one, this class’ quarterbacks are full of more questions than answers, from Kyler Murray to Dwayne Haskins. But on top of that, Miami owns the 13th-overall pick, sitting behind other quarterback-needy teams. Therefore, they may not be able to take a player they’re confident in.
Having said that, this isn’t a Dolphins team that’s a quarterback away from competing. Basically at every spot on the roster, Miami has a need to secure the future, be it because of guys that they’ve let go, players they’ve moved on from or draft picks that ultimately haven’t panned out as they’d planned.
That’s why the Fitzpatrick signing likely signals that the 2019 season is going to be a long one and the first in a rebuild for the Dolphins. It’s no secret that, anchored by Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert and Jake Fromm, the 2020 NFL Draft’s quarterback class is much stronger than this year. Thus, it would be better for Miami to be in prime position to take one of those prospects to be their guy.
Thus, bringing in a stop-gap option like Fitzpatrick and using the 13th pick and the rest of their 2019 draft capital to add future assets while ultimately still remaining a bad team sets them up nicely for the future. They have players who can be valuable down the line, but will also be bad enough in the 2019 season to have a top pick in the 2020 draft.
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It’s going to be a long 2019 season for the Miami Dolphins, one that will likely be tough for fans to stomach for 16 games. However, that’s the nature of a modern rebuild in the NFL. You have to get down to the bare bones and go from there, and where the Dolphins are now is just about in that spot, which means they should start their trend upward in the coming years.