The Dolphins finished off the 2017 season with a 6-10 record
and simply couldn’t put it together this season. Expectations were high before
the season started but Miami couldn’t finish when it came down to it.

We learned a lot about this team over the course of the
season. First thing was that this team will never amount to anything without a
solid quarterback but that should be common knowledge. Last year Miami went 10-6
with Tannehill playing quarterback for most of the season up until he got
injured and Matt Moore came in to finish the job. This year Tannehill tears his
ACL in training camp and then they bring in Cutler. Sounded like a good idea to
bring him in at first but as we all saw, it wasn’t. Now with the season over, it’s
looking like Tannehill will be the starter next year, but this team still needs
to get a quarterback in the draft. If Tannehill were to go down again with injury
Gase needs someone who could step in and be successful with the talent around
him.
We also learned that Kiko Alonso can’t cover anyone, and
that this linebacker unit still needs to be fixed. Last season Kiko Alonso played
well and Adam Gase rewarded him with a contract extension because of it. This year
we saw game after game quarterbacks look to throw at their tight-ends because Kiko
Alosno simply couldn’t keep up with him.
 Obviously with Kiko signed long term
he’s not going anywhere so this team is going to need to take a linebacker who
can play well in coverage. Whether that’s Raekwon McMillan or someone in the
draft doesn’t matter to me, it’s just a problem that needs to be fixed and even
with McMillan coming back next year when healthy this team needs to draft a
linebacker to fix the problems they have at that position.
The third thing we learned is that you can’t keep signing
offensive lineman who are going from team to team and expect it to work. Ted
Larsen spent the first part of the season injured and once he became healthy
and played there really wasn’t much improvement on the offensive line. I’m not
sure why Gase insists on not drafting offensive lineman early in the draft but that’s
something that needs to change. The offensive line has been a problem for quite
some time and it needs to finally be fixed.
Not everything was a problem this season though. We also
learned that given the opportunity, Kenyan Drake can be an explosive player out
of the backfield. Jay Ajayi was the starter up until he got traded away to Philadelphia
and most fans thought that was a bad deal. Kenyan Drake did well to show that it
wasn’t. The offense got noticeably better once Drake became the starter and Drake
did well to keep the offense flowing.
For the final five weeks of the season Kenyan Drake led the
NFL in rushing with 444 yards. I know that’s a small sample size but he was
consistent in the games he played. One thing I really liked about Drake’s play
this season is that he stays patient before he hits the hole. That trait for a
running-back is crucial because he always has the chance to make something out
of nothing.

Miami isn’t far off from returning back to what they were in
2016 but it’s going to take a solid draft to get them back there because they
still have problems that should have been fixed already, specifically speaking
about the linebacker unit and offensive line.