One of
the things Miami Dolphins coach Adam Gase stressed at the end of the season,
was the need for more leaders on the team to help when adversity hits the team.
The Dolphins had a lot of adversity last year but didn’t have the leaders on
the team. Ndamukong Suh is a great player, but he is more introverted which
there is nothing wrong with. However, when you get a big contract like he got 3
years ago you would expect more in terms of leadership, but that’s not Suh’s
personality. Jarvis Landry is an emotional leader who wears his emotions on his
sleeve, but sometimes that can rub teammates the wrong way and even coaches.
Landry’s emotions boiled a lot this year as evidenced by his ejection in the
season finale against the Buffalo Bills and his other 15-yard penalties for
unsportsmanlike conduct. Other players like Reshad Jones aren’t leaders more
lead by example.

Josh Sitton was considered a leader
for the Chicago Bears and helped mentor young lineman on the team. One of the
first things Sitton said he was willing to do was mentor Laremy Tunsil. Tunsil
had Brandon Albert his rookie season to help him at left guard, but when the
Dolphins parted from Albert, he lost a mentor and someone he could look up to.
Tunsil was supposed to make a smooth transition back to left tackle last year
being that it’s his natural position, but he struggled early on. Perhaps from
getting back to his old position and adjusting to the speed of the game, but
the Dolphins had a lot of inexperience playing at left guard when Ted Larsen
got hurt in training camp. When Larsen came back, the offensive line got better
as the year went on. Now Larsen is moving back to right guard so with Sitton
coming in a left guard and his experience it can only get better for Tunsil.
Tunsil is still young, very talented, and eager to get better so he should
benefit from Sitton.

Frank Gore is another veteran
player the Dolphins signed, and I must admit I wasn’t too crazy about the
signing at first, but after looking at the whole scope of things I was wrong. Yes,
Gore is going to be 35 years old and his best years are behind him, but who
better for Kenyan Drake to learn from than Gore. Drake has a ton of talent but
is still learning how to become a professional and has room to grow. Gore is a
future hall of famer with over 14,000 yards rushing for his career. He’s a good
runner, receiver out of the backfield, and a good blocker. Drake can learn from
one of the best at his position. For a guy on the back end of his career, Gore
has rushed for 950 yards in each of his last 3 season with the Indianapolis
Colts and he was the bright spot on some bad teams. Gore is rejuvenated being
back in his home town and knows this is the end of his career so why not
contribute to the Dolphins and help mentor a potential star in the making in
Drake by help crafting his game and show him what it takes to succeed in the
NFL.

Robert Quinn was considered the
leader of the Los Angeles Rams defense and is very productive, but with the
Rams switching from a 4-3 to a 3-4 defense he became expendable. The Dolphins
made a good trade acquiring him for only a 4th round pick. Now he has had a
back injury in the past and last was playing out of position, but he is a few
years removed from a 19-sack season if he can come anywhere close to that watch
out. He can also be a good influence on Charles Harris coming into his 2nd
season. To pair Quinn, with Harris and Cameron Wake could be a nice pass rush.
Harris was the leader of the Rams defense and they switched defenses so one
teams junk is another teams treasure and he’s only 28 years old in the prime of
his career and he could be rejuvenated by this trade.

The Dolphins lost some talent in
Suh, Landry, and Mike Pouncey, but the Dolphins gained some leaders who can
still play at a high level and help mentor some of our young teammates. Will it
translate into wins on the field? I don’t know, but this should be a better
team with the leadership added.