By: Sam Moores

The Miami Dolphins on paper seem to have their best roster in years. It’s one that you’d expect to compete with anyone. Over the past two years, they have been competitive, but fairly dysfunctional from top to bottom. Although, there appears to be a new energy with Mike McDaniels. So, how did the Dolphins come to the point of placing their hope on McDaniel and how successful can the new-look Dolphins be?

Miami’s two back-to-back winning seasons under Brian Flores were the best since the ’02 and ’03 seasons, but midway through the 2020 season, we started to see the start of a bit of chaos brew. Or was it like that from the start?

From the get-go of the ‘tank job’ by the Dolphins organization, we knew Stephen Ross wanted an elite quarterback. And with what’s come out since, that’s definitely the case. That wasn’t fair on Flores and his staff. It caused friction from the start. Plenty of Miami’s valuable assets were moved to try and create a championship roster from the bottom, something that the Browns and the Raiders tried before them. One more successful than the other. 

Two extra first-round picks were accumulated before the trade deadline of the 2019 season, but they played themselves out of the number 1 pick contention with some excellent coaching from Flo. As tough as they were to watch at times, you felt that the team that won 5 of its last 9 games, having started 0-7, was getting somewhere.

When it started, everyone presumed they were all in on Tua Tagovailoa, who at the time looked like the obvious number one overall pick. His unfortunate major hip injury took place in November, which was around the same time that Joe Burrow and the LSU Tigers were emerging as the powerhouse they really were that season.

Burrow went to the Bengals at #1, one of the teams that Miami beat down the stretch, whilst Tua was still there for them at 5, falling due to injury concerns. The Dolphins took Tua at 5, hoping to sit him the entire year behind Ryan Fitzpatrick, the veteran QB who you could tell the team loved, in order for the hip to fully heal. QB, Justin Herbert was drafted by the Chargers at 6, someone he’ll be compared to for the rest of his NFL career. Tua was medically cleared to play in the Summer, but it was still clear that the team was still Fitzpatrick’s for the year.

That wasn’t the case though, as in Week 6 of the 2020 season we saw the Alabama QB make his debut, throwing two passes in relief of Fitzpatrick in a 24-0 win at home to the Jets. Their bye week followed, and with the team sitting at 3-3 Tagovailoa was announced as the starter for the Week 8 tie at home to the Rams. The news shocked the league, it seemed forced, and very premature. It was the moment where it all changed, and the dysfunction got more and more evident. 

You’d have to assume Tua was thrown into the starting job, by the owner, rather than the coaching staff partly because of just how good Herbert looked after being rushed into the starting lineup minutes after the Tyrod Taylor incident before the Chiefs game. He took the opportunity and ran with it. They didn’t want everyone to think they took the wrong guy before their QB even started a game. In reality, that was totally the wrong thing to do.

Tagovailoa didn’t do what Herbert did, he looked like a rookie, and wasn’t of the same build as in 2019, as the focus was rightly focused on rehab. You could tell that the team didn’t trust him, pulling him late in games when the offense wasn’t flowing, putting Fitzpatrick in, then acting as if everything was normal. Even with how well the kid had dealt with all the troubles he’s been through with the injuries in college, that had to dent his confidence. 

The defense was elite towards the end of that season, and with a bit of Fitzmagic, the team got to 10 wins, narrowly missing out on a playoff win. 

That was something to build on, and after the 2021 draft it was looking promising, three impressive early-round rookies in Jaylen Waddle, Jaelan Phillips, and Jevon Holland weren’t the projects they drafted in 2020, they seemed ready to play right away. Bar Raekwon Davis, that class was looking like potential busts. That’s a way to waste 3 first-round picks, and Davis wasn’t even one of those.

Back to the 2021 class though, and ready to play they were, Grier smashed this draft. You’d have thought those guys adding to an impressive 2020 team, would make their 2021 counterparts even better. But as you know, in 2021 things got worse. From the hiring of co-offensive coordinators, and then Charlie Frye as QB coach, meaning there were three guys to talk to Tagovailoa in the headset, with no clear primary play-caller, to the Deshaun Watson situation which hovered over the team from the offseason all the way to the trade deadline. Oh and don’t forget having the worst offensive line in football.

Injuries plagued the team’s start to the season, losing multiple key players for games at the start of the year, Tua was one of them, going down with a rib injury in Week 2 against Buffalo. He missed 3 games, with the disaster that was Jacoby Brissett coming in to replace him. The team started 1-0 and was quickly 1-7 before winning against the Houston Texans in Week 8.

Week 9 saw one of the strangest things I’d ever seen in my time watching football. Tua sustained a finger injury on his throwing hand during the Bills game in Week 7 that ruled him out for the Week 8 game at home to Houston. The Ravens game on TNF followed a couple of days later, one that the QB was expected to be good to go for. He was active, but not starting, just in case he was needed, but Brissett got the nod to ‘protect’ Tua. How strange.

It got stranger though, as when Brissett hurt his knee midway through that game, with the score sitting at 6-3 to Miami, Tua came into the game and gave the offense a boost, eventually winning 22-10. Jacoby was good to go back into the game, but Flores kept him back on the sideline with Tagovailoa playing as well as he was. That’s when you know something wasn’t right. That wasn’t normal.

That started a 7 game win streak that saw the defense go back to the 2020 form, and the O doing just enough to grind through games. Something fishy went on behind the scenes with the defense. From that masterpiece of a game plan to shut down the Ravens’ offense, they suddenly started doing the difficult-to-stop zero blitz concept again. It saw them double the a gap to create an all-out blitz look, but sometimes players dropped into coverage. Many believe that one half of the season was mainly called by Josh Boyer, the other half by Brian Flores and Gerald Alexander. Either way, something changed.

Sitting at 8-7 in Week 17 they needed a win in the rain in Tennessee to control their destiny in the AFC wildcard race. That game was a disaster, losing 34-3, and with that, all hope of a playoff berth was gone. They finished 9-8 in the end after winning in New England, sweeping the Pats, but that wasn’t enough for Brian Flores to keep his job. He’d done an unbelievable coaching job, it was a shock to the league, but looking back at it now, it was probably right to make a change, especially when you look at how positive things are looking at the moment. It just wasn’t the right fit.

San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel was hired to be Flores’ successor, a run game guru. He kept the majority of the key defensive members of staff, except the popular defensive back coach Gerald Alexander. Interesting. In came former Dolphins players Sam Madison and Patrick Surtain to cover that position group, whilst Josh Boyer was kept as DC, which again, should be interesting. We’ll learn if it was him in charge of the unit, or whether it was Flo and GA towards the end of the season.

The offensive line was the number one issue last season, so straight away, even before free agency and the draft, they began addressing the problem. Frank Smith the Chargers’ offensive line coach and run game coordinator came in as McDaniel’s OC, whilst Matt Applebaum is the new man in charge of the unit. They then went out and signed three-time pro-bowler Terron Armstead who worked with Smith in New Orleans at the start of his career. Connor Williams from Dallas came in during free agency as well. Two veteran lineman, something last year’s unit was lacking.

From the get-go, the coaching staff and Chris Grier made it clear that Tua is the guy, which I still don’t believe with all the Brady stuff out there at the moment, but that’s not happening right now he’s a Buc, so I’ll take their word. They’ve been super aggressive in surrounding their quarterback to make sure he’s the guy, and then if not move on with the multiple picks Grier accumulated for next year. It sounds like a great plan, but then again, so did the last one.

Cedrick Wilson was added to the receiver core, as was Tyreek Hill about a week later. When grouped with Jaylen Waddle, those three together are a scary, speedy group of wideouts. Devante Parker was traded to New England as he wasn’t seen as a scheme fit, whilst there are three new running backs in Chase Edmonds, Raheem Mostert, and Sony Michel. The team finally invested in the running back position!

Wes Welker became the third former Dolphin to join the staff to coach the receivers, what a unit he’s got on his hands, but also what a guy to learn from. He was in San Francisco with McDaniel, as was his assistant head, and TE coach Jon Embree. Darrell Bevell took up the role of QB coach, whilst Eric Studdesville remained in charge of the running backs. 

Melvin Ingram as a rotational pass rusher is the latest move to show their commitment to winning with Tua. Most importantly, they didn’t lose anyone of significance. Everyone is back. The team is in a much better place than it was a year ago. They’re in a position to win.

But you have to question whether they actually will or not. To achieve anything, first, they have to compete with Buffalo in the division. The Dolphins have lost seven straight to the Bills. Seven straight.

There’s no guarantees that the defense will be good either, was the success over the two years anything to do with Boyer? There’s talent, but the unit was underperforming massively at the start of last season. What was behind the turn in fortunes? Something must have changed. 

As I mentioned earlier, another thing that I think will help is the fact that the vibe seems totally different in the building. Tua looks the happiest we’ve ever seen him and we’re seeing players speaking more freely. That’s got to be down to Mike McDaniel. His demeanor is totally different from that of Flores, and that’s not a criticism on Flo’s part either, he could certainly command a room, but I think Mike relates to the modern player more. The Belichick, Parcells way of doing things doesn’t tend to work nowadays.

But as for the Dolphins ceiling? All in all, I think they are better than the Patriots and Jets in the AFC East, and on paper, I can see the team achieving 9 or 10 wins. But that’s not including Buffalo. If the team can compete with the Bills, then they can reach 11-12 wins in my opinion. If McDaniel can do what Flores couldn’t, then this is a playoff team, probably still through the wildcard seeds though.

I can’t see them going any further than perhaps the divisional round in the playoffs, and that’s because from what we’ve seen so far in his career, Tua’s not in the same category as the Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes’ of this world. At some point, he’s going to have to win by himself. I believe he’s got top 10-15 potential if McDaniel, Smith, and Bevell can do with him what they tell us they can, but I don’t think he can be those two.

The post What is the ceiling for the Dolphins with Mike McDaniel? appeared first on Pro Football Mania.

By: Jason Willis

On the Week 5 edition of ESPN’s NFL Primetime Booger McFarland said “Mac Jones is playing the position as well as you can ask a rookie too.” Ask many around the NFL and you will likely hear similar comments. If you discuss the matter with Patriots fans you will quickly forget if you’re talking about Mac Jones or Joe Montana in his prime. At one point he was even the betting favorite to win Rookie of the Year. However, let’s take a step back.

When Mac Jones was selected out of Alabama in the first round of last year’s NFL Draft, he was the fifth quarterback selected. Going to the New England Patriots with the fifteenth overall pick, this looked to be a great landing spot for a passer with much to prove. Simply, he was almost never tested at Alabama. His team was the most talented in the country by a long shot and as such things came easy for them. 6/11 offensive starters are playing in the NFL right now and more will follow come next year’s draft. So while he threw 4,500 yards, 41 touchdowns, and just four interceptions, he very rarely faced adversity.

Of course, this is not the end all be all. Mac Jones has always has uncanny accuracy and ball placement. Even if the guys he was throwing to at Alabama were wide open most times, Jones always threw an easily catchable ball in the perfect spot. My worries with Jones stemmed from his ability to adjust to NFL speed. Could he make NFL throws into tight coverage? How would he respond to pressure? Would he have the confidence to continue throwing down the field? With these worries, I gave Mac Jones a third-round grade. My hope was that he could sit on the bench initially as he adjusted to the game at the NFL level. This looked like it may happen as the Patriots once had Cam Newton on the roster. However, following a strong pre-season from Mac Jones, Newton was released.

With the starting job now Jones’ to lose, the Patriots and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels wasted no time. Early on it was obvious that they would not be limiting the playbook for the youngster. Instead, the playcalling would be very similar to what was ran when Tom Brady was there. Lots of mesh, slant/flat and drive concepts with shots off of play-action. Throwing all of this at him so early in his career is certainly a bold move.

The biggest weaknesses for Mac Jones at this point is his timid play style. He simply does not take the chances needed from a starting NFL quarterback. The causes for this are likely numerous. First off, he is slow to process like most rookie quarterbacks. Despite playing SEC football, the NFL is a much faster, more complicated game and it takes all rookies time to adjust. This slow processor limits his ability to attack defenses however because even when receivers pop open, Jones is too late to see it. The other reason for this is his limited arm talent. He simply does not have high-level arm talent to stretch the field or throw the ball to the opposite sideline. This of course is most worrisome in his development. He can get acclimated to the NFL game sure, but can he ever overcome his physical limitations?

This timidness handicaps the entire offense as defenses are now going to force Jones to beat them over the top and to the sideline. Opposing teams will let him have the three-yard dump-offs if they know he won’t try and take them deep. Against the Houston Texans last week, Mac Jones attempted just two passes over twenty yards. With the exception of the Saints game in week three, he has just eight of these passes. The Saints game stands out as a total anomaly but also offers some hope. In that game alone he threw the ball 20+ yards twelve times but had just one completion. Currently, he is 28th in the NFL in yards per attempt.

Not many took Mac Jones seriously as an NFL prospect. As such the bar was set low so even meeting expectations has created some excitement. Alas, we must still be honest. Sam Monson at PFF put it very well. While a three-year-old tying his own shoes is impressive, at some point it is going to become expected. That is where we are now with Mac Jones. He currently has 1,243 yards, five touchdowns, and five interceptions. Even though he hasn’t had the ugly games similar to Zach Wilson’s four-interception game or the ugly passes like Trevor Lawrence’s flea-flicker, it’s because he’s not even trying to create big plays. Big plays are not the only thing lacking, however, as Jones does not routinely test tight windows. Much of this can likely be attributed to the fact that he never had to do so in college. If Jones would show the willingness to attempt these throws more often like Wilson and Lawrence, it would go a long way towards feeling comfortable about his NFL future.

Thus far, Mac Jones is playing timid, albeit, safe football. Simply, he looks like a rookie quarterback and that is okay. However, as sports media and fans, the anointment of him as seemingly the best rookie quarterback should stop. Is the book closed on Mac Jones’s career after five games? Of course not, but at this point, he has been a below-average/bad quarterback on a below-average/bad team.

The post Let’s Relax About QB Mac Jones appeared first on Pro Football Mania.