This season will, in a lot of ways, be a make-or-break season for the Dolphins.
Head coach Mike McDaniel is entering his fourth year on the job with a 28-23 record, two playoff losses, and zero playoff wins. As a team, Miami failed to build upon the 11-6 season of 2023, turning in a disappointing 8-9 season last year.
Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s monster contract extension kicks in this year, elevating him to sit among the highest-paid quarterbacks in the league. He’ll have to prove he’s worth more than $50 million per season.
With so much riding on this season, Miami will need a strong core of leaders to guide the rest of the team through the ups and downs of the season. That, however, is something that former All-Pro linebacker and current ESPN analyst Bart Scott questions.
“I don’t (fear the Dolphins), because I think they’re going to self-implode. They have a culture problem,” Scott said on “Get Up.” “When you start hearing things from … guys that have exited there saying, ‘Hey, guys are getting away with too many things, there’s no structure, no discipline.’ When there’s no discipline, I don’t care how talented you are. The wheels are going to fall off.”
Scott emphatically added: “You need — who’s the leaders? Who’s the leaders there?”
Among last year’s group of captains, Tagovailoa, Tyreek Hill, Alec Ingold and Zach Sieler are returning, while Calais Campbell (free agency), Terron Armstead (retirement), David Long (released in-season), and Jalen Ramsey (traded) have left the team. There will be opportunities for new leaders to emerge, but for now, it’s very much of a question of who will fill those roles and how well they will succeed.
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