As the Miami Dolphins approach the 2024 campaign, we at DolphinsTalk.com will finally let the cat out of the bag. Without further ado, here are our 2024 predictions and thoughts on the upcoming season.
Mike Oliva
I have Miami going with 10-7, and unfortunately, I see the 2024 regular season playing out like the 2022 and 2023 seasons did. A fast start and a late-season collapse. Miami’s issues in the past two seasons are still the same today: poor offensive line play, poor special teams, and depth issues. And this season, Miami is now the oldest team in the league. Not sure that will help matters. The Schedule sets up nicely for Miami to get off to a fast start (the week one game is the most difficult to predict), but from Thanksgiving on, that portion of the schedule is brutal—road games vs. potential playoff teams like GB, Houston, Cleveland, and the NY Jets. And mix in two home games vs SF and the Jets, which won’t be easy. I do have Miami sweeping Buffalo this year, as I think the tide is about to turn in that rivalry. However, with the big-picture outcome, I don’t see much change for Miami from 2022 and 2023 to 2024 when it comes to the overall regular season record. Beat up the bad teams and lose vs the good teams and struggle to win games late in the season. I think they will get into the playoffs as a wild-card team. If it’s a favorable matchup in round one (i.e., @Jax, @Indy, @Tenn in warm weather or a Dome or catch a division rival like Buffalo or NYJ that you know very well on an off day), I wouldn’t be shocked if they did win a playoff game this season. But is this the season Miami makes a Super Bowl Run? I don’t believe so. I think they are better set up for that in 2025 and 2026, when they can move on from some older players and have some of their younger players have some experience under their belt and be thrust into more prominent roles. I hope I am wrong, though! And I hope I am doing podcasts from New Orleans in February!
Ian (Big E) Berger
The 2024 Miami Dolphins have a great opportunity to get the monkey off their backs this season. Can they beat teams with records of over .500? Can they win when it counts, in December or January? Can they have a home playoff game? I think the answer is yes to all of those questions. Just looking at the AFC East, the Bills have gone through a big overhaul of their wide receivers corp. And although some may say this isn’t a big deal, I won’t be surprised if we see Josh Allen put up numbers more like he did before Steffon Diggs arrived in Buffalo, which were not as impressive as the past few seasons. And, although the New York Jets have basically been anointed NFL champions in August by some analysts and are the darlings of the NFL, based on the number of prime-time games they were awarded, I believe there are more questions than answers for this team, like can a 40 something-year-old quarterback who hasn’t played competitive football in over a year produce solid enough numbers to help an organization in “disarray,” as was recently reported. And the Patriots are rebuilding, although Drake Maye could be a nice find for the team. Many major pieces are still missing in New England, which will take them at least another season or two to address. The Miami Dolphins were on their way to winning the AFC East in 2023 but were significantly derailed by the injury bug. The goal and hope for 2024 will be to have a healthy team for most of the year, especially in the season’s final months. Fielding the oldest team in the NFL may not help keep everyone healthy, but the hope will be that this season will deliver a little injury luck and some playoff success to finally get the monkey off their backs.
Tom Ernisse
The Dolphins are coming into the 2024 season with the same questions we left with last season: Is there enough depth at Wide Receiver? Can the interior Offensive Line protect the QB? Will Mike McDaniel dial up the runs when needed? We still won’t truly know until later on down the road, but I have confidence they have sorted out some of the fatal flaws that hurt them late last season. I think the offensive evolution will be front and center this year and the defense is underrated in my eyes. I have the Dolphins off to a fast start again, with a playoff spot in reach before Thanksgiving. If they can find a way to at least win 3 of the final six games, they will be in contention for the one-seed and first-round bye. Find a way to beat the teams you are supposed to beat and sprinkle in wins against opponents you NEED to beat to be Super Bowl Contenders.
Aaron “The Brain” Katzker
Miami lost key players in the trenches this offseason but added offensive weapons and depth in several areas. They also bring in Anthony Weaver as DC, which should bring in a schematically different defense that may play more into the strength of their best defensive players. With all that change, I still see things staying very much the same. Miami will overwhelm some teams with their high-powered offense, but it still feels to finesse, and I question their ability to gain tough yards inside when needed. The defense may struggle a bit early in the season, particularly against the run, as their veteran edge rushers make their way back from injury, and their 1st round pick, Chop Robinson, may be best suited to be a passing down specialist early in his career. The result: Miami still finds themselves unable to beat Buffalo and will need to win tough games down the stretch to win the division and/or make the playoffs. It will come down to a Week 18 game in the Meadowlands. I can see it going either way, but I do believe this team’s winter failures of the last two years give this team a different edge that they’ve been missing. Miami gets a big win to end the regular season and makes the playoffs.
