Can the Miami Dolphins ACTUALLY Fix Their Offense in 2025?
The 2024 Miami Dolphins fell off a cliff compared to their 2023 squad. The offense was terrible. There were injuries everywhere and they were a soft team with no real culture in place. But this offseason, they brought in some guys to bring up the physicality and try to install real culture. But can they revive this Miami Dolphins offense to that 2023 form? Let’s take a look. In 2024, Miami’s offense ranked 22nd EPA for play, 15th in dropback EPA, and 31st in rush EPA. this after 2023 where they ranked fourth, third, and fifth in those categories. Safe to say they were a much different and worse team last season. So why was this? Well, for one, Tuagabo was injured. This is not a new thing as Tua has suffered many injuries, mostly concussions throughout his NFL career. He missed four games with a concussion he suffered in week two and two games with a hip injury at the end of the year. Tua is a cog that helps his offense go. Of course, since he’s the quarterback, but Miami for years has not done a good job at getting a backup quarterback on this roster that is capable of keeping the team afloat in the instance that gets hurt, which is almost guaranteed. In 2022, they start a combination of Teddy Bridgewwater and Skyler Thompson, who had a combined one and three record in their spot starts. This past year, Tyler Huntley started five games, Skyler Thompson won, and while he did not start a game, Tim Bole saw action in two games. That tells you a lot. Thompson and Huntley went two and four as a starting quarterback of the team, but they did go out and get Zach Wilson from the Broncos this year. The former number two overall pick is not a great option as a number two quarterback, but I think he is for sure better than what they’ve had in the past. You just hope that he won’t have to see the field this year, which it always seems likely that he will. Two attacka is not one of the elite quarterbacks in the NFL. At best, he is top 12 and most likely between 12 and 16 when fully healthy. But this offense is schemed around him throwing the ball, how he does so, and where he can place the ball with his elite accuracy. He has great timing and onfield chemistry with Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Wadd hitting them downfield or over the middle of the field and let them do the rest. It’s very evident that this offense was not in the same realm with to his big-time throw percentage dropping from 6% fifth in the NFL to 2.6% 38th this past year. The reason for that is the offensive line. Mike McDaniel had to run this passing game as an extension of the run game because they could not run the ball. The O line could not hold up at all. Tu had the lowest average depth of target and shortest time to throw in the NFL at 6.1 yards and 2.3 seconds, both career lows. Now, Tua has always been the type to get rid of the ball quickly. That is22 seconds faster than his first three years. And his A dot was 2.1 yards shorter than 2023. The plan was simple but not effective. Get the ball out quickly so that Tuug doesn’t get hit and they don’t have to run the ball, which was not effective. Nope. Whoever catches the ball can make a play and gain extra yards. This is why Johnny Smith and Devon Chan had so many catches. Two guys who are great after the catch and had the most screen targets at their position. And bringing up that run game, that offensive line made the Vern game much, much worse than the year prior. For reference, they lost Robert Hunt to the Panthers last off season. Austin Jackson only played eight games and Connor Williams went to Dallas. They dropped down to 30th in rushing DVOA, 31st in EPA per rushing play after being ninth in that category. and they were incredibly inefficient, ranking 28th in yards per attempt. The team’s leading rusher, Devon Chan, finished 19th in yards before contact per attempt, and the team ranked 28th in PFF run blocking grade. Both are great measures to see how the offensive line performed in the run game. How many yards did the running back get before getting hit and how well did they grade out. Despite this, HM was still efficient at 4 and a half yards per carry. And if you want to draft him in a baseball league or put him in a pick entry, there’s no better place to do it than on underdog. All you have to do is pick high or lower on your favorite players projections. Pick two to eight players and you can win up to a thousand times your money. I’ve been doing a lot for baseball recently just cuz it’s the only thing on that I watch, but the NFL’s come back soon and I know I’ll be posting some entries I got for that. If you sign up with code Fanatics, once you play $5, you get $50 in bonus credit and a free pick. Again, that is Code Fanatics. Get your journey on Underdog started. This offseason, they made sure to beef up this line and add some character to this team. They brought in guard James Daniels on a three-year $24 million deal. Daniels is coming off of a torn Achilles he suffered last year, but if you can get back to full health and bring solid guard play for only $8 million a year, it’s very much worth it. If not, they have an out after the 2025 season and can release him with only $4.8 million in dead cap. To also help them become more physical and more athletic, they drafted guard Jonah Sabinina and running back Oie Gordon as well as signing guard center Daniel Brunskill. They gave up a decent bit to move up to the 37th pick from the 48th to take Jonah. With how bad the offensive line prospects dropped off after him and Arante Ursery, it made sense that they trade up to improve the horrific interior O line. He’s a guy that will take time to develop. He flashed a lot at Arizona, but was not consistent and needs the coaching NFL experience to become the player the Dolphins deem to be. In a division with Christian Barour, Milt Williams, Quinnon Williams, and Ed Oliver all being good interior defensive linemen, they need Jonah to produce. Maybe not immediately, but within the next 2 years. Jonah and Brunskill allow Miami to not play Liam Iikenberg unless a doomsday situation happens, which in itself is an addition because he is hard to watch block. Then there’s Olly Gordon, who’s interesting. He’s a powerback and a guy that can convert short yardage situations, something they have not had in years. And Chan is great, but he’s a smaller guy and Jaylen Wright, despite his size, is not a great powerback that can turn out yards. I think he’s a great addition to this backfield and will be a guy that plays a very very specific role in this roster. With Han dealing with a calf strain, Jaylen Wright also being injured, he may have a bigger role to start the year than we really expect. But can the offense go back to 2023 form? No, I don’t think it can. I like the physicality they brought in. Nick Westbrook Ale Gordon and their offensive line additions, but I don’t think it is enough to truly bring this offense back to being an elite top three unit in the league. Tyreek Hill is getting older. While he did lose weight and looks more explosive than he did last season, he’s no longer 170 target player. He is still great though. He’s entering year in his contract that has an out and I think he wants to prove that he’s worth an extension to the team when try to block the outside noise for once in his career. Even in a year with two missing six games, he still had 959 yards and six touchdowns, nearly half of his production from the year prior. But when your starting quarterback goes out for six games in your age 30 season and you have to be used a bit differently due to injuries along the offense in general and the whole scheme changes makes me think that if they cannot use the passing game as purely an extension of the run game just so they can have some sort of short yardage offense he can get to,200 or so yards. If there’s one player I’m fully confident, it’s Jaylen Wadd. Wadd has been great to start his career. Three 1,00 yardd seasons in four years with his only bad year being this past one for obvious reasons. Wadd’s been great in camp for this team and he’s due for more explosive plays in the passing game and to be the number one receiver early in the offseason which I think being with two in the spring and early summer more than Tyreek will naturally increase his targets come the season cuz they’ve just played together more. He’s a great router, fast of course, good after the catch and has the positional versatility between the slot and outside. Line him up anywhere and watch him go to work and take over this Miami passing game. Devon Chan will have more explosive plays than last season by default. As a rookie, he was basically the most efficient runner ever and was still efficient this year despite the team’s inefficiencies around him. I truly am a fan of Achan. Had the running back triple crown for receiving last year due the team needing him to do so, but he proved he’s a capable third down back. Maybe not in short yardage situations, but he can stay on the field on any passing down and can create explosive plays on the ground when the offensive line and Tua is healthy. It is weird the splits between him playing with Tua and him not, but I still really like who he is as a player. an explosive fast back with great cuts, great vision, and honestly a tiny bit of power and great contact balance. There’s one player besides Waddle that I know will be elite this year. It’s Han. But one position that I am afraid of is the tight end one. They have no real blocking tight end in there, and I don’t know how they will try to use any of those tight ends to really be a hand in the ground, block for me type of player. And Darren Waller’s a lottery ticket. You gave up minimal in a trade to get him from New York. He comes out of retirement. He’s ramping up all offseason to get back into football shape. Who knows what he’ll be? Maybe 500 yards from Darren Waller. Who knows? I He’s really just a complimentary piece that if he hits very well, good for them. If he doesn’t hit, they didn’t give up anything. But for this offense to hit their peak, which I think is a middle ground in terms of points per game between 2023 and 2024 and around 24 points per game, they just need to stay healthy. Two attack is the biggest X factor of this offense and is never a good thing when your QB is your X factor. If he does not live up to expectations and health, the Dolphins will not see any type of success. Mike McDaniel basically had to change his entire scheme last year due to injuries along the offensive line to it himself and just the run game not being able to get going. Once we see Mike McDaniel being able to bring back his old offensive scheme and really get this offense in sync and back to what they are good at, I could see this being a 10- win team and a first round exit. That’s if they hit on all cylinders. There are other factors on this team that could bring them down like their defense, but this video is strictly about their offense. But truly, it all comes down to if this offense can create more explosive plays with their three elite playmakers. And if two attackabo and Mike McDaniel can treat the passing game as an asset and not a necessity out of failure to run the football, I think they will be able to run the ball this year with all the additions along the offensive line. Han having another year of development and Ollie Gordon being brought in to turn out those short yardage situations. Maybe Jaylen Wright developing too. I think that a new sense of physicality and culture defines if Miami can be successful.
The 2024 Miami Dolphins fell off a cliff compared to their 2023 squad. The offense was terrible, injuries everywhere, and they were a soft team with no real culture in place. Miami made some moves that are intended to help change all of that, but can they revive this 2025 offense to the 2023 form?
It will be tough. While they brought in guys to add physicality to the team, it will not replicate Robert Hunt and Connor Williams from 2023. Tyreek Hill is getting older, Tua Tagovailoa is injury prone, and I love Jaylen Waddle and De’Von Achane this year, but there isn’t enough there to prove to me that they can return to form. The running back depth is intriguing but is not proven and the tight end room is scary.
I don’t know if I think Mike McDaniel is built to be the guy who leads this team past adversity which they have seen nearly every year of his tenure. First round exits, dramatic fall offs, and more. He is an ELITE play caller, which is why this offense can succeed, but when the running game isn’t working his scheme does not have any chance of success.
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Intro 0:00
2024 Dolphins 0:20
OLine Issues 2:05
Change in Physicality 3:53
Can They Revive The Offense 5:27
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