Teams in the NFL are no strangers to the ebbs and flows of success and a significant key to success in the league is how well team rebuilds are carried out. The Miami Dolphins are no different. They’re a storied franchise with a rich history, due in large part to their sustained success under the late, great head coach Don Shula. After his retirement in 1995, however, the team has treaded water for the most part.
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A lot of this has to do with either failed or abbreviated rebuilds due to flash-in-the-pan success. Recent years have probably been the first time since their expansion days that the Miami Dolphins dove into a full rebuild to mixed results. So let’s delve into why the rebuild occurred as well as the aftermath of the “Tank for Tua” era in Dolphins’ history.
Miami Dolphins Rebuild Retrospective
The Groundwork of the Rebuild
The 2016 Miami Dolphins were a surprise team to make the playoffs for the first time since the similarly surprising 2008 season. Under first-year head coach Adam Gase and behind the rushing of first-year starter Jay Ajayi, the Fins made the playoffs despite quarterback Ryan Tannehill missing the final three games and the wild card game due to injury (hey, another add-on to the quarterback injury trend). The Pittsburgh Steelers crushed them, but the Fins’ future was looking up.
Then the clock struck midnight. Gase’s perception in fans’ eyes began to sour and Ajayi regressed so much that he was traded midseason, Tannehill missed the entire season leading to a very old Jay Cutler starting for the team before he too got injured towards the end of the season. And don’t even look at the draft class. First-round pick Charles Harris was out of Miami in just three years, totaling just eight starts and 3.5 sacks in the teal and orange. What’s worse, Harris was taken shortly before Pro Bowlers Evan Engram, Tre White, Budda Baker, and Dalvin Cook, not to mention T.J. Watt, arguably the best defensive player in the NFL right now, who plays the same position as Harris. All in all, the year for a disaster, and Gase knew something had to change.
The Culture Change
Gase began to embark on a “culture change” within the team. Management cut malcontents and veterans like Ndamukong Suh and Mike Pouncey while both were still under contract for the future in an attempt to rebuild the Miami Dolphins. They also added more level-headed presences like Frank Gore and Danny Amendola. Despite this, the team continued to go nowhere, landing stuck in mediocrity at 7-9.
More veterans left or got traded and Gase was fired one year after wanting to change the team culture. In hindsight, Gase himself was the culture that needed to be changed, as his career completely disintegrated shortly after being fired from Miami. In his place stepped Brian Flores, a disciple of Bill Belichick’s coaching tree, hoping he could right the ship. The team shipped off many key players, including Ryan Tannehill, star receiver Jarvis Landry, and standout rookie Minkah Fitzpatrick. It was time to tank.
Tanking for Tua
In Brian Flores’s first season at the helm, the team seemed to be floundering on purpose for the sake of tanking the preseason #1 quarterback prospect, Tua Tagovailoa. So the tank for Tua began in earnest: the Miami Dolphins dropped their first seven games and entered week 16 at a paltry 3-11 record and in striking distance of the first overall pick in the draft. Shockingly, the Dolphins rattle off two close victories against the equally hapless Cincinnati Bengals and the very good New England Patriots in what would be Tom Brady’s final regular season game as a Patriot. The team ended 5-11, an honest success in terms of expectations but the team only landed the fifth overall pick in the 2020 Draft.
In a funny twist of fate, at the same time the Dolphins began winning, their prized Tua Tagovailoa began dropping on draft boards due to injuring his hip late into Alabama’s season. So the team did end up succeeding in tanking for Tua, though he was more damaged than prior. Still, the future was bright: Brian Flores looked like a slam-dunk hire, DeVante Parker broke out as a great #1 receiver, Tagovailoa would be gradually lifted into the starting role thanks to the Fins having the solid (and incredibly likable) Ryan Fitzpatrick, and recent draft pick Christian Wilkins and Mike Gesicki began to grow into their roles. Behind the scenes, however, the team’s house of cards was shaky at best.
Trouble in Paradise
With most people none the wiser to the sinister troubles behind the scenes, the rebuild continued in earnest. Fitzpatrick started the first seven games before Tagovailoa led the rest of the way from Week 9 onward. Tagovailoa played decent enough in his first season, but it was clear that his hip still bothered him. The team, however, posted a 10-6 record on the back of an absolutely vicious defense, which ranked fifth in the league in points allowed. Unfortunately, in the crowded AFC, the 10-6 Dolphins missed the playoffs via tiebreaker. Despite this, expectations were huge now that the rebuild seemed to be a massive success.
Cracks began to show immediately in 2021, as the Dolphins began the year 1-7, with Tagovailoa missing Weeks 2-9. During his time injured, Tagovailoa had to endure persistent rumors that the team was considering packaging him and a couple of draft picks for disgruntled (and incredibly controversial) quarterback Deshaun Watson. News outlets eventually revealed that general manager Chris Grier desired to keep Tagovailoa while Flores wanted Watson. Grier won this power struggle, and this blip was a sign of things to come. The team righted the ship with Tagovailoa’s comeback, eventually ending the year 9-8, just barely missing the playoffs for the second straight season. Despite this success and the first back-to-back winning seasons since 2002-2003, The team shockingly fired Brian Flores. What followed afterward leaves a complicated legacy on this otherwise solid period of success and rebuilding.
Was this a Success?
After his firing, former head coach Brian Flores alleged that owner Stephan Ross was paying him $100k bonuses to purposely lose games to secure a better draft pick. Ross also illegally contacted recently retired head coach Sean Payton and free agent Tom Brady to join the Dolphins. Of course, considering the team already had a young coach and an eventual young signal caller in Flores and Tagovailoa, Ross decided to meddle, which cost them dearly in more ways than just the punishment of losing a first-round pick. shattered the team’s perception from a success story to a story of an owner trying to circumvent rules to succeed.
It’s tough to gauge whether this rebuilding era was as great as it could have been. Of course, the Dolphins are in a position now to threaten any team when healthy but despite it all, the team seems to have more questions than answers. And thanks to all the controversy at the end of the era, many will look at this time with bittersweet feelings. The 2018-2020 Miami Dolphins rebuild planted the seed for a potential contender, but a disastrous tenure, burned bridges, and shady dealings paved the way.
Main Image: BILL INGRAM /THE PALM BEACH POST / USA TODAY NETWORK
