It is no surprise to Dolphins fans that the whole of humanity isn’t expecting much from the organization this upcoming season after new general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan tore the team’s roster down to the screws in an effort to rebuild the franchise in his image. Gone are quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, wide receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, pass rusher Bradley Chubb, safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, and on, and on, and on…
While we’re bracing for what’s to come in 2026 after the departures of multiple
big names, plenty are predicting an even more disappointing season than what some Dolphins fans are comfortable with.
In a recent power ranking released by Frank Schwab of Yahoo Sports, the Miami Dolphins were ranked dead last by the writer — coming in at 32 of 32 NFL teams.
“Starting at the bottom is accurate for this Dolphins team. Miami was in such bad salary-cap shape that after cleaning house, it will be paying more to players not on the roster than the players currently on the team. A staggering $179.2 million is allocated to dead cap hits, according to Spotrac. That is 58% of the adjusted salary cap.”
While Schwab doesn’t rate Miami’s roster very highly, he does see the addition of quarterback Malik Willis as a positive one for the Dolphins.
“At least there’s one reason to watch. The lone free agent the Dolphins splurged on was quarterback Malik Willis… Hafley and Sullivan were familiar with Willis from their time with the Green Bay Packers and signed him to a three-year, $67.5 million deal. It’s far from a guarantee that Willis will work out. He has six career starts. But it was a reasonable gamble for the best quarterback on the free-agent market.”
Power rankings prior to the start of the season, let alone the preseason, do not always accurately predict how a team will play once the bullets are live. We will all have to wait and see if new head coach Jeff Hafley can motivate his team enough to surprise those around the NFL this year. Until then, we’ll just have to hope that those crafting these lists are wrong about the squad from sunny South Florida.
