The Lions are coming off back-to-back emotional wins over NFC North opponents, and Sunday’s trip to face the Dolphins brings a different kind of test: not just talent, but focus. Miami is still trying to find itself, and Alain Poupart, who covers the Dolphins as the publisher of Dolphins OnSI, painted a picture of a young team that is still sorting through what it is.
Poupart said Miami is “in the early stages of a rebuild” and described the roster as “a very, very young team that lacks talent and depth.” Even so, he stressed that the Dolphins have shown they’ll compete.
“What they have shown is they will play hard and not give up, which admittedly should be the bare minimum for any team,” Poupart said. “Stylistically, the Dolphins look like they want to be a running team and defensively they play mostly zone.”
A big part of Miami’s present and future is the quarterback situation, and Poupart said the physical tools are clear even if the consistency isn’t.
“I think the physical attributes are pretty obvious, and have been obvious since the start of camp, but he’s still a very inexperienced QB despite having been in the league for five years,” Poupart said. “He’s also operating with a less-than-ideal supporting cast and a lot of youth, which leads to rookie mistakes like receivers running the wrong routes.
His play has been a bit uneven in terms of decision-making, but he’s actually made improvement in that regard in recent games. I still think more data needs to be collected, but I would say right now there’s not a screaming need for the Dolphins to absolutely draft a quarterback near the top of the 2027 draft.”
When asked which Dolphins player Lions fans should know, Poupart pointed to a rookie receiver.
“I’m going to guess Lions fans probably don’t know a lot of Dolphins players because Miami is a pretty nondescript team, so I’ll go with one of the good-looking rookies, third-round pick Caleb Douglas,” he said. “He’s a wide receiver from Texas Tech who’s long and also runs very good routes. He looks like an absolute keeper for Miami.”
Poupart also addressed the trade deadline angle, saying Miami is not in a position where it has to move players just because the record is ugly.
“The Dolphins are not like other teams with bad records because this season never was about wins and losses but rather player development and evaluation,” Poupart said. “Because of that, nobody should assume they’ll be in selling mode because hanging on to players who could help in 2027 and beyond will be more valuable than marginal draft picks.
The Dolphins already have done their salary cap dumps, they don’t need to do any more. So they’ll trade only if the offer because too good to pass up; for example, a second-round pick for Brooks would be hard to turn down, but I don’t see anybody offering that.
Brents is a really promising-looking corner who’s had injury issues, but again the Dolphins aren’t simply going to give him away. And, yes, both players would be good additions for the Lions.”
On the matchup itself, Poupart doesn’t see much mystery. He said Miami is last in the NFL in pass defense and allows a 76.9 completion percentage, with little pass rush, and he doesn’t see a path to slowing Detroit down.
“The Dolphins are last in the NFL in pass defense and allow 76.9 completion percentage with little pass rush. I just don’t see how they stop the Lions offense,” Poupart said.
“But with Kadyn Proctor coming back after missing Week 8, I think the Dolphins also can score some points. It probably won’t be enough to pull off an upset.
The Lions should win, and I’m thinking something along the lines of 34-24 or 38-27.”
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