Many Miami Dolphins fans are excited about the upcoming 2024 season, and there is a lot of reason to be excited. It’s year three of Mike McDaniel and his offense, and even more weapons have been added to an already explosive offense. Plus, the team is coming off back-to-back playoff appearances, which hasn’t happened in many years.
So, I understand all of the reasons for optimism for this fanbase, but when I see some fans say the overall roster in 2024 is better than last year’s, I think some fans have gone too far.
Better?
Wait?
What?
How is it better? Robert Hunt is gone, and Miami has done nothing to replace him. Chrisitan Wilkins is gone, and Miami signed a bunch of borderline NFL players and a vet who will be 38 on September 1st to replace him.
Those two things kill any argument that Miami’s roster has improved over last season.
Yes, adding Odell Beckham Jr to replace Robbie Chosen and Chase Claypool has upgraded the depth at the wide receiver position.
Yes, drafting Jaylen Wright as the #3 running back is an upgrade over Jeff Wilson and Salvon Ahmed.
Yes, Jonnu Smith is the best tight end on the roster, and he has transformed that position for the Dolphins.
Looking at the other side of the football, things aren’t as black and white.
Christian Wilkins and Raekwon Davis are gone, and Miami replaced them with Jonathan Harris, Neville Gallimore, Benito Jones, Calais Campbell, and Teair Tart. I don’t care how much of a die-hard Dolphins fan you are; this is not an improved defensive line. Miami clearly downgraded at this position.
Andrew Van Ginkel and Jerome Baker are gone at linebacker; then you factor in Bradley Chubb and Jaelan Phillips, who will start the season off injured and miss time. What did Miami do to replace them? Jordyn Brooks, Shaq Barrett, and Anthony Walker were brought in to replace them. Walker has had a pedestrian NFL career to this point. Even if you factor in Chop Robinson (who most likely won’t match the sack production Van Ginkel gave Miami last year), it’s tough to say this is a drastic upgrade at linebacker for Miami. I would consider it a wash and an even swap where Miami didn’t upgrade or downgrade, but even if you think Miami upgraded, it’s not a drastic upgrade.
When Chubb and Phillips get back eventually, we can reconsider this. But on Day 1, week 1 of the season, the position group overall isn’t better than it was on Week 1 of 2023.
Kendall Fuller for Xavien Howard is one where I think many Dolphins fans have a blind spot. Is Fuller substantially cheaper? YES! So, I understand why Miami moved on from Howard from a financial standpoint, but let’s not act like Fuller is as good as Howard. In 2023, Howard played in 13 games and Fuller 15, so it’s pretty close to having the same amount of time on the field. Last season, Fuller gave up 9 touchdowns, and Howard gave up 1. The passer rating against Fuller was 120.4, and against Howard, it was 81.3.
So, I get moving on from Howard, but let’s not act like Kendall Fuller is a young Darrell Green in his prime. Howard’s a better player, and Miami downgraded at that position.
Regarding safety, Miami moved on from DeShon Elliott and Brandon Jones and signed Jordan Poyer and Marcus Maye as replacements. Poyer just turned 33, and Maye has missed time due to suspensions, arrests, and injuries in recent years. Did Miami upgrade? You can’t convince me they have.
I also think that overall, one thing that is being ignored is that Miami moved on from Wilkins, Davis, Jones, Elliott, and Van Ginkel, all guys who are 27 and 28 years old, and replaced them with Campbell, who is 38, Poyer, who is 33, and Beckham and Barrett, who will be 32 in season. The Dolphins are no longer a “young” team but now an “old” team.
This isn’t necessarily bad or mean they will lose this season, but it means you are banking on older players to stay healthy and not regress as players.
So, when the conversation turns to whether Miami has a better roster in 2024 than it did in 2023, I would say no, they don’t. Again, this team has more than enough talent to win the AFC East, make the playoffs, and win in the playoffs. So don’t take this article as me saying the team will not be good in 2024; I’m not saying that at all.
But to be fair, the 2023 roster was much better than the squad they will field this season in 2024.
In my opinion it is an overall wash this roster ’24 vs ’23. A tad better on offense, with OBJ, Smith, Wright, and somehow the offensive line will be ok, not great, but when has it been great outside of the days of Webb, Simms, Stephenson, those guys ? On defense, it will probably be less strong early on without the full heat coming from Phillips and Chubb, but hopefully the Phins won’t even need them to beat the softer teams scheduled early on, but they will definitely need them later on as the season progresses. Brooks, Fuller, Barrett, Poyer, Campbell, Maye, Tart, are all either serviceable or more than. If the Phins offense is again putting up 30ppg, then I am not worried if they are giving up say, 21-24 ppg. They will manage. Who I want to improve lots is Mike McDaniel and his play calling, running more, taking less risks, and having more creativity than those blah same old WR screens that get blown up more often than they work. Also, Tua vs the better teams. He stunk vs Bills last game of the year and vs the Eagles, vs the Titans. Any of those losses become a victory and the Phins season becomes a totally different one. Division crown and home game in playoffs. He blew it, and of course, now wants and expects $50M + ! Wow. Great country, no ? Fail and get richer.
I get the points made but… I totally disagree with the conclusions. Comparing one-for-one on a player basis opens up questions about whether the Fins are better or worse. However… scheme, approach, and depth are lacking in your analysis. The point is, Seiler & Wilkins played 75%+ of the defense snaps. That is not the approach/scheme our new defensive coordinator is going to run. Per him… the Fins will be establishing “waves” of personnel (so especially the big boys) will remain fresh as the game & season wear on. Tart & Jones (together on rotation) is MUCH greater than Davis. Will we miss Wilkens – yes! But let’s not discount the year Campbell had with the Falcons. 7 sacks in much fewer reps than what Wilkins was afforded. On the offensive side – in ’23 we really had no answer for when our top two WR’s were taken out of the picture. This year, we have a great 3rd option WR, a seam-threatening TE, and young drafted WRs that could help on 3rd down plays. So on offense, it’s light night and day better. Finally – Depth!!! The reason we faded last year is we lost a large percentage of our core contributors. Our depth (across the board) is much better this year than in ’23. Injuries happen, but at least now we stand a chance of handling them better than we were able to in ’23.
So are we better – TBD. But the pieces are in place & IMHO, come year-end, additions made versus those lost will prove the Fins are a much more complete team in ’24 than they were in ’23. Not a homer statement, just a different manner in which I view our roster today versus the roster we had.
I don’t buy that Howard is that much better than Fuller. Howard was listed as day to day every single week last year. Each week you had to guess whether he was going to be healthy enough to line up and play. Don’t even get me started on his off the field issues. I like what we have done this off season and expect that we ARE indeed a better team this year. I’ll be if I had to be a Defensive coordinator trying to stop this offense! We should have the most explosive offense in the NFL, Chiefs included. Fins up!
And how many interceptions did Fuller have last year? Because I beileve Howard had 1!
I would rather have a player NOT give up touchdowns than force turnovers.