Week 1 of the 2026 season did not treat a lot of the Dolphins’ familiar faces kindly.
The most jarring example came Monday night, when Jaylen Waddle’s first game with the Denver Broncos went nowhere fast. He finished with just 2 receiving yards on one catch, and the night got even uglier when he dropped a third-down pass in the third quarter of Denver’s 31-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
For a player acquired in a blockbuster deal that sent him to Denver for a first-round pick plus a swap of third- and fourth-round selections, that’s about as rough an opener as it gets. The one catch also matched Waddle’s career low for games in which he played at least 30 offensive snaps.
Minkah Fitzpatrick’s new start with the New York Jets ended almost as quickly. He was on the field for six snaps against the Tennessee Titans before leaving with a groin injury, and he did not return. At this point, he’s considered unlikely to suit up when the Jets meet the Green Bay Packers in Week 2.
A few other former Dolphins defenders got lighter workloads in their new homes. Jack Jones saw limited action as a backup for the San Francisco 49ers, while Rasul Douglas did the same for the Washington Commanders.
Jaelan Phillips and Bradley Chubb both opened the year as starters, but the results split in different directions. Phillips recorded a sack in his Carolina Panthers debut, though the defense was torched for 552 yards and 59 points by the Chicago Bears. Chubb logged two QB hits and four assists in the Buffalo Bills’ win over the Houston Texans, but he wasn’t a major driver of the result.
Then there was the Chargers group, where former Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel, along with Butch Barry, Alec Ingold and Cole Strange, was part of what turned into one of the week’s biggest letdowns. The Los Angeles offense, which was supposed to benefit from McDaniel working with Justin Herbert, stalled throughout a loss to the Arizona Cardinals. Strange, who signed a big free-agent deal with the Chargers after an uneven 2025 in Miami, finished among the lowest-graded guards in Week 1, according to Pro Football Focus.
The Dolphins’ own draft decisions came back into the spotlight too, especially with Rueben Bain Jr. drawing plenty of offseason buzz. Some Dolphins fans - and even some media members - spent the summer second-guessing Miami for passing on Bain with the 11th pick, or 12th after the trade down, in favor of Kadyn Proctor. But Week 1 offered a reminder that training-camp flashes don’t always carry over, and Bain’s arm length concerns showed up against the Cincinnati Bengals and right tackle Amarius Mims.
It’s only one game, of course, but the early return made Miami’s choice look a lot better. And if anyone was wondering about Penn State guard Vega Ioane, Proctor and Ioane were graded about the same by PFF in Week 1, which works in Proctor’s favor given the stronger talent on the Baltimore offense.
There was also the familiar sting of watching T.J. Watt do T.J.
Watt things. He posted two sacks and a pick-six for the Pittsburgh Steelers in a 20-13 win over the Atlanta Falcons, which naturally brings back the 2017 draft, when the Dolphins took Charles Harris eight spots before Watt went 30th overall.
Miami’s own Week 1 didn’t exactly inspire confidence, and the schedule didn’t offer much relief either. The San Francisco 49ers, Kansas City Chiefs and Minnesota Vikings all won by at least 17 points, with Minnesota closing on a 29-point run.
Flores’ defense was especially aggressive, blitzing on 85 percent of snaps and producing four sacks and 15 QB hits. Andrew Van Ginkel led the way with 1.5 sacks in a contract year, and Dallas Turner added seven QB hits. And yes, Van Ginkel remains someone the Dolphins never should have let walk in free agency in 2024.
Taking the Raiders out of the equation, Dolphins opponents went 9-4 in Week 1. Two of those losses came in games between teams Miami will face - Denver against Kansas City and Green Bay against Minnesota - while the other two belonged to the Chargers and the New England Patriots.
In Other News...
Jaylen Waddle's Broncos Debut Just Fueled A Dolphins Trade Debate
Jaylen Waddles first game in a Broncos uniform came on Monday Night Football, and for Dolphins fans still tracking the move, it was impossible not to notice how quiet it was. Denver acquired Waddle from Miami for a first-round pick, then watched him finish with one catch for two yards on three targets while the Chiefs kept him largely under wraps.
For Miami, the deal only sharpens the debate because the Dolphins used that pick on Chris Johnson, giving the trade a very immediate point of comparison. Waddles limited involvement in his Denver debut does not settle the argument, but it does give both sides fresh ammunition as the early returns on the swap start to take shape. [Read more 🡒]
Dolphins Owner Just Landed In Rare Company Among NFL Billionaires
The latest Forbes 400 list offered a fresh reminder of just how much financial firepower sits behind some NFL franchises, and Stephen Ross remains one of the leagues most prominent owners in that company. The Dolphins owner checked in at 56th with a net worth of $21.5 billion, while Miami itself was valued at $7.5 billion, underscoring how far the franchise has climbed in league business circles.
Ross is hardly alone among NFL owners on the annual ranking, with familiar heavyweights like Rob Walton, David Tepper, Stanley Kroenke, Jerry Jones and Robert Kraft also making the cut. For Miami, the bigger takeaway is less about the leaderboard itself and more about what that kind of ownership profile can mean in a league where resources, ambition and expectations are often linked long before the first snap is taken. [Read more 🡒]
Dolphins Rookie Corner Already Faces Pressure After Rough First Impression
Chris Johnsons first NFL outing was the kind rookies remember for all the wrong reasons, and the Dolphins are already living with the early lesson. The first-year corner was targeted often and had a rough debut, allowing two touchdowns and six catches on 11 targets, a reminder of how quickly the league can expose hesitation in the secondary. Miami has asked him to handle more than one spot back there, which only adds to the challenge as he tries to settle in.
Coach Jeff Hafley said Johnson needs to clean up the details, but he also praised the way the rookie has approached the setback. Teammate Dante Trader has tried to keep the message simple: take the game, learn from it and move on. The next stretch will show how quickly Johnson can respond, with more tests coming against a run of opponents that will keep him under the microscope. [Read more 🡒]