Save for a spark of a pass rush against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 4, the Miami Dolphins pass rush has been dormant for the 2026 NFL season. Against the Vikings, the Dolphins recorded four sacks, two by defensive tackle Zach Sieler and one each from edge rusher Josh Uche and Chop Robinson. A four sacks performance was impressive.
The zero sacks in Weeks 1, 2, 3, and 5 were not. Miami’s four sacks against the Vikings are their total for the season. The Dallas Cowboys, Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles
Rams, New York Giants, and Philadelphia Eagles are all tied for the second-fewest sacks this season, and they each have eight. The Dolphins are half the second-worst tally in the league.
On a team where the defensive secondary was expected to be a major concern coming into the season, the pass rush was supposed to balance those concerns. Instead, the pass rush has not shown up.
The Dolphins are coming off their bye week. They have had two weeks to watch the film, diagnose the issues, and get them fixed. Head coach Jeff Hafley discussed the pass rush this week, explaining, “We need to create more pressure, and we talked about it in the bye week. We looked hard at it at the bye week, and we’ll work on that in practice. There’s different ways to do that. Whether you try to move a guy off the spot to force some errant throws or whether you try to scheme some things up to get some one-on-ones or overload some protections to try to get hits on the quarterback, we need to do that. So we’re going to work really hard at that this week and hopefully put it on tape Sunday.”
Miami is allowing a 115.0 passer rating against them this season, 31st in the league. The Dolphins’s defense has faced third-down plays by opposing offenses a league-low 58 times (which is also a concerning stat in-and-of itself as Miami does not force teams into third down situations), but they have allowed the 16th most conversions for first down. Teams are picking up first downs on 52 percent of the third down plays against Miami’s defense.
Getting pressure on quarterbacks, especially in clear passing situations, would bring that conversion rate down.
The Dolphins’ roster is the youngest in the league, and this season is a rebuilding year for the franchise. The top priority is the growth and development of the players, looking forward to a sustainable, winning club for years to come. This year is not the goal, but the start of the journey.
The problem is, every position group on the team seems to be showing growth and development. The pass rush has stagnated with not a lot to show. If they cannot figure out how to generate pressure on opposing quarterbacks, this year will continue to be a struggle just to stay competitive. And, next year, there will be many questions that have to be answered for a position group that should have been a strong point for a rebuilding team.
