The Dolphins don’t have to look far to see the kind of turnaround they want to build.
When Miami meets Detroit on Sunday, it will be the first time the teams have played since the 2022 season, and the contrast is striking. Back then, the Lions were still in the early stages of a rebuild. Now they’re a team that has become a yearly contender.
That’s the lane Miami is trying to get into.
It may not look that way on Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium, but the Dolphins appear to be moving in that direction. The comparison starts with leadership, and Dan Campbell has been the face of Detroit’s rise. He showed it early, even during his time as the Dolphins’ interim head coach in 2015, and it was still obvious when his first Lions team stumbled out to a 0-10-1 start in 2021.
Jeff Hafley hasn’t used the “biting kneecaps” line, at least not in a press conference, but he has made his own imprint. The postgame video after Miami’s first win of the season against the New York Jets in Week 7 offered one example.
So did Josh Uche’s assessment, which he gave to reporters, according to Joe Schad of the Palm Beach Post: “I think it starts with the head coach. The energy he brings, no toxicity, it's just all football.
All ball, all details, all discipline."
Of course, leadership alone doesn’t build a winner. Detroit’s climb was also powered by smart personnel moves, and it started with the 2021 draft, when the Lions took tackle Penei Sewell seventh overall - one pick after the Dolphins passed on him and selected wide receiver Jaylen Waddle instead.
Miami’s new regime of GM Jon-Eric Sullivan and Hafley made its own version of that kind of move with its first draft pick, using the selection on Alabama tackle Kadyn Proctor. Through the first seven games of the 2026 season, Proctor looks like a player who could become for Miami what Sewell has become for Detroit.
The Lions kept stacking hits after that, landing Jahmyr Gibbs, Jack Campbell, Sam LaPorta, Brian Branch and Amon-Ra St. Brown in later rounds. Those picks helped form the core of a team that was on the doorstep of the Super Bowl in 2023, earned the No. 1 seed in the playoffs in 2024 and remains one of the top NFC contenders this season.
Miami’s first draft class under Sullivan and Hafley still needs more time before anyone can fully judge it, but the early signs are strong. Proctor is part of that, and so are Chris Johnson, Jacob Rodriguez, Caleb Douglas and maybe a couple of others as well.
The Dolphins still have work to do, especially at quarterback, whether that answer comes with Malik Willis or through a draft pick in 2027 or 2028.
For now, Miami can at least say it has one thing Detroit didn’t have at this stage of its own rebuild: a win. The bigger question is how many more are coming in 2026, and whether the Dolphins keep following the same path the Lions once took.
In Other News...
Dolphins Suddenly Have A Malik Willis Problem Before Week 10
Malik Willis left Week 9 with a groin issue that quietly became one of the more important health questions on Miamis radar. The Dolphins leaned on him against the Lions, and even though he finished the game, the injury affected his mobility and running ability enough to raise concerns about how he would hold up in the kind of offense that asks its quarterbacks to extend plays and create when the first read is gone.
Miami has not offered much in the way of a detailed update, which leaves his status for Week 10 against the Colts very much up in the air. For a team trying to keep its offense on schedule, the uncertainty is less about whether Willis can suit up and more about whether he can function the way Miami needs if he does, especially when movement outside the pocket is part of the equation. [Read more 🡒]
Dolphins Draft Debate Is Back After Jaguars' Latest Move
The Dolphins 2021 draft maneuvering is back in the conversation after Jacksonville added another familiar name to its defensive front. Miamis decision to move up for Jaylen Waddle instead of sitting at No. 12 set off a chain of picks that eventually helped the Eagles land Jordan Davis, and that thread now loops back again because Davis has since been dealt to the Jaguars, where he joins Davon Godchaux.
For Miami, it is a reminder that draft-day choices rarely stay in one lane. The Dolphins could have kept the first-rounder that became part of the path to Davis, but they chose a different route in pursuit of Waddle and have lived with the ripple effects ever since. Even as the roster has evolved, the team has shown it is not eager to part with certain pieces near the trade deadline, a sign that the front office is still weighing present needs against the kind of long-view decisions that keep resurfacing years later. [Read more 🡒]
Dolphins Suddenly Have A Quarterback Decision That Could Define This Stretch
The Dolphins quarterback room has been thrown into a sudden reset, with Malik Willis headed to injured reserve after a groin injury and the team already moving to its next option. Miami has been sorting through alternatives in the background, including Brady Cook on the practice squad and a series of tryouts for additional arms, but it has not added another passer yet.
Kyle McCord is now the name to watch after arriving from Green Bay, giving Miami a new direction at the position as it tries to steady the offense through this stretch. The move leaves the Dolphins with a clear next step, even if the longer-term picture remains unsettled and the team is still weighing whether more help is coming. [Read more 🡒]