This hasn’t been a fun season to be a Miami Dolphins fan.
After making the playoffs in Mike McDaniel’s first two seasons as the team’s head coach in 2022 and 2023, and narrowly missing the postseason in 2024 — his third season with the club — the Dolphins find themselves with a 1-6 record after seven games to start the 2025 NFL season.
If the 2026 NFL Draft were to magically start today (would any Dolphins fan object?), they would hold the second overall pick in the selection process, with the New York Jets holding the first pick. Would the Dolphins select a new signal-caller and effectively end Tua Tagovailoa’s reign as the club’s franchise quarterback? We’ll have to wait roughly six months to find out.
Fins Up
This week’s Fins Up player is Miami’s first round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft — defensive tackle Kenneth Grant. Now, don’t get me wrong, Grant has gone through his fair share of growing pains this season — even ending up on the Fins Down list earlier in the year. But, as of late, Grant has picked up his play for the Dolphins, flashing signs of what the Dolphins were hoping for when they took him at pick #13 this past April.
Against the Browns, despite not tallying any sparkling counting statistics, Grant played his best game as a member of the Miami Dolphins. He totaled four solo tackles and finished with five total tackles against Cleveland.
If the Dolphins hope to get better at defending opposing ball carriers this season — and there’s really only one direction things can go for the team in that regard — Grant’s continued development will be necessary to facilitate that climb.
Fins Down
For the second time this season, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa finds himself on the Fins Down list. In week seven, Miami’s passer threw for 3 interceptions and just 100 yards before being benched in the fourth quarter in favor of rookie signal-caller, Quinn Ewers.
It was the second week in a row that Tagovailoa was intercepted three times — bringing his total of interceptions to 10 through seven games — tied for the most interceptions thrown by any quarterback in the NFL this season. He has thrown just 11 touchdowns in that same timeframe.
When asked if Tagovailoa would lead the Dolphins into battle on Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons, Mike McDaniel confirmed that was the plan, but did add the caveat that his “expectation is that we don’t throw 10 picks.”
Ouch.
