Kevin Szafraniec launches our comprehensive 2025 NFL Team Breakdown series with a deep dive into Miami’s troubling offensive regression and the fantasy implications of their myriad roster changes.
Fantasy championships aren’t won by chasing last year’s production – they’re secured by managers who understand how team-level changes create cascading effects throughout a roster. This exhaustive 32-team outlook series leverages our proprietary metrics and tools to identify these critical transitions before your leaguemates catch on.
The Dolphins present a fascinating case study of how quickly fortunes can change. During Mike McDaniel’s first two seasons in Miami, the Dolphins made the playoffs in each season while boasting one of the most entertaining offenses in the league. His off-the-wall press conferences also made waves, adding another layer of charm to his success as another member of the Shanahan coaching tree.
However, two playoff exits in the Wild Card Round led to questions about whether McDaniel has what it takes to turn Miami into a Super Bowl contender. Then the Dolphins struggled through a 2024 season that saw them lose their trademark explosiveness while dealing with a litany of setbacks, including starting quarterback Tua Tagovialoa suffering yet another concussion in what has been a long line of head injuries.
Should we be chalking up Miami’s underperformance in 2024 to a string of bad luck, or was it just the first step on a journey toward competing for the No. 1 pick in the draft?
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2024: A Dark Season in Sunny Miami
Due to a variety of circumstances, the Dolphins saw a significant decline in their offensive efficiency in 2024. Chief among the reasons was Tua Tagovailoa suffering yet another concussion in Week 2, which forced him out of action from Week 3 until Week 8. In the games in which Tagovailoa played, Miami was significantly more productive, yet did not reach the same offensive heights they saw in 2023.
However, the team’s struggles were not entirely due to Tagovailoa’s absence, as the running game went from being one of the most effective in the league to one of the least effective. While the running backs could have done a better job of creating more yards, much of the issue was the team’s run blocking, which took a drastic downturn after the interior offensive line was revamped following the 2023 season.
