The Dolphins are entering a season where the record may not tell the real story. This is a rebuild, whether anyone in the building wants to say it out loud or not, and the questions around it go far beyond wins and losses.
That’s the backdrop for Jeff Hafley, Malik Willis, Jon-Eric Sullivan, Brandon Shore, and even Danny Sillman. Everyone connected to this roster is part of the same reset, and patience is going to matter in a way it hasn’t for Miami in a long time.
The last time the Dolphins tried to rebuild, in 2019, it never really got the chance to breathe. Chris Grier couldn’t let it unfold naturally, then a year later he was hunting for major pieces, and by year four Brian Flores was shown the door.
This time, the league’s expectations are brutally low. Plenty around the NFL think Miami could be one of the worst teams in franchise history, with more forecasts pointing to a last-place finish and the No. 1 overall pick in next year’s draft.
Those aren’t really the debate points anymore. They’re the baseline.
What matters now is whether the Dolphins can build something out of the mess.
One major piece of that is how the roster looks when the season ends. The way each unit performs will shape how Miami attacks the 2027 draft and free agency.
The Dolphins could come out of the year with clear weak spots they need to patch, or they could discover holes by watching young players fail to grow into bigger roles. That matters because Miami is counting on its draft class and a group of inexperienced young veterans to hold up their end.
The same goes for Hafley. His job is not just to coach through mistakes, but to learn from them.
That’s a standard Mike McDaniel never seemed to meet, and it’s one Hafley has to hit if this thing is going to move forward. If he makes the same errors in Week 18 that he made in the opening weeks, that’s not progress.
A head coach in the NFL has to grow while the season is unfolding, and Hafley is being asked to do that at the same time he’s trying to teach his players.
Willis sits right in the middle of that pressure. He wasn’t handed a polished group of receivers, so there will be games where the stat line doesn’t flatter him.
But the Dolphins still have to evaluate more than completion percentage. If he throws 20 passes and only 10 are caught, the bigger question becomes why.
If five of those are dropped, that’s on the wideouts. If not, the scrutiny lands on Willis.
He’s playing for more than just this season. He’s playing for his Dolphins future and maybe his NFL future, too.
His contract runs for three years, but Miami could still draft a quarterback next year and keep Willis in place longer if he proves he can handle the job. If he doesn’t, the organization may have no choice but to go another direction.
And then there’s the broader issue of whether the team actually improves. The Dolphins are not expected to stack up many wins, even if there’s always hope they can surprise people.
The real standard is growth. A player making the same mistakes in Week 18 that he made in Week 1 is not moving forward.
That applies to Jacob Rodriguez, who is expected to struggle early before getting much better by the end of the year, and it applies across the roster and every position group.
If that growth doesn’t show up, the rebuild starts to wobble. Panic can creep in from the top, just like it did before Flores’ exit. Miami won’t be judged simply by the final record, but by how the team plays each week and whether it keeps moving in the right direction.
The final test may be the hardest one of all: can Hafley keep the room together once the losses pile up?
The Dolphins are preaching unity and buy-in, and the players are excited about the opportunity ahead, especially those who have never played in a real game. But optimism gets tested fast when defeats start stacking up.
The challenge is not just losing. It’s preventing the losing from breaking the group apart.
That’s the real danger in a season like this. Losing can eat away at a team faster than almost anything.
Hafley’s biggest task is keeping everyone locked in on the bigger picture, even when the bigger picture doesn’t look anything like winning in the moment. If he can do that, he’ll have done something meaningful in 2026.
In Other News...
Dolphins Practice Squad Has A Few Names Fans May Soon Know Well
Miamis 53-man roster is set, and as always, the real work now shifts to the margins. The Dolphins kept 12 of their 13 draft picks, with Max Llewellyn the lone draftee who did not make the initial cut before landing on the practice squad, and that group could wind up mattering more than usual. In a season where depth is already a concern, the practice squad is not just a holding area, it is the next layer of protection.
Jalen Reagor, Jarquez Hunter and Ethan Bonner are among the names worth tracking, since each could be asked to help if injuries hit or if the Dolphins need a jolt at a spot where the roster is thin. Wide receiver and cornerback remain the clearest pressure points, which means the call-up list may not stay theoretical for long. For a team trying to survive the grind of a season, the players tucked just beyond the active roster could soon become a familiar part of the conversation. [Read more 🡒]
Raiders Receiver Move Gives Dolphins One More Week 1 Concern
The Raiders added a familiar depth piece on the eve of Week 1, signing wide receiver Ronnie Bell to their practice squad before facing the Dolphins. Bell has spent time with the 49ers and Saints, and while he is not on Las Vegas active 53-man roster, the move adds another name Miami has to account for as it opens the season.
Las Vegas also bolstered its practice squad with former Giants players Evan Neal and Azeez Ojulari while making room by releasing three other players. For Miami, the Bell move is the kind of small-bore roster shuffle that still matters this time of year, when every layer of depth can shape how a defense plans for the opener. [Read more 🡒]
Packers May Have Handed Eagles An Edge Before Week 1
The Dolphins will spend plenty of time studying their own opponent this week, but the Packers already found themselves dealing with a different kind of tape problem before the season even got rolling. Miami coach Jeff Hafley said Philadelphia obtained fan-recorded video from Green Bays training camp, giving the Eagles a better sense of the defensive pressures they might see in the opener. It was a reminder that in the NFL, edge cases can come from unexpected places, even from the stands.
Green Bay has a policy limiting fan videotaping during certain portions of practice, and the team enforced it more strictly this preseason. The issue only added another layer to a Week 1 matchup the Eagles went on to win, in a game that produced notable defensive and offensive numbers. For a Dolphins team watching the leagues top contenders closely, it was another example of how much can happen before a game is even played. [Read more 🡒]