If there’s one thing the Miami Dolphins organization has mastered the past three decades it’s selling hope to a consistently dejected fan base.
Dolphins fans wanted a fresh start, a new beginning in 2026 after yet another failed rebuild, and here we are on the eve of training camp first practice on Wednesday.
There’s a new general manager in Jon-Eric Sullivan, an understudy in Green Bay for two decades-plus, who HOPEfully can evaluate and procure talent better than the franchise’s past leaders.
There’s a new head coach in Jeff Hafley, who had a 22-26 record as Boston College’s head coach for four seasons, before returning to the NFL as the Packers defensive coordinator.
HOPEfully Hafley can game plan, lead, develop players, call games, and make in-game adjustments better than Miami’s past few head coaches.
The Dolphins also have a new starting quarterback in Malik Willis.
The HOPE is that the Green Bay Packers’ former backup can perform at a high level in critical situations, which are necessary for success on third downs, in the red zone opportunities, when the team is trailing in points, and when the game is on the line and Miami need its quarterback to be clutch.
Willis’ athleticism is supposed to open the door for more improvisational plays, utilizing his athleticism more than Miami’s past few quarterbacks have done.
Let’s HOPE Willis is built to play scramble ball football, which is in vogue now, and that Miami has the weaponry to make that style, approach work.
There’s a new offense, a new defense, new special teams coach, and an influx of new players who are young, cheap, impressionable, and HOPEfully talented.
“We all play football at a high level, or we wouldn’t be in this league,” Willis said when asked about the talent level of Miami’s roster. “All the guys who have big names didn’t have big names at one point.”
HOPEfully a few names emerge over the next seven weeks, which leads up to the Sept. 13 regular season opener against the Las Vegas Raiders.
There’s that word again…..HOPE.
With newness, a restart, a rebuild comes HOPE.
HOPE is the incubator of what could be, the belief that something good could happen.
If there’s one thing South Florida’s NFL franchise knows how to do its peddle HOPE. But that’s all this franchise has to sell right now.
Dolphins fans had HOPE too many times. Remember when Nick Saban was going to make the franchise a powerhouse before leaving the pros to return to the college game?
HOPE existed when Cam Cameron was going to turn Miami’s offense into the San Diego Chargers east, before he was exposed as a fraudulent head coach, who delivered a 1-15 record in 2007.
HOPE resurfaced when Bill Parcells and crew delivered the biggest one-season NFL turnaround in 2008, but got extinguished when Chad Henne was exposed as a pedestrian quarterback in the three years that followed.
HOPE returned in 2012 when Joe Philbin was expected to turn Ryan Tannehill into the next Aaron Rodgers, but that never happened.
Then HOPE got re-ignited by Adam Gase, who led the Dolphins to the playoffs in 2016, during first season as head coach. But the former Denver Broncos offensive coordinator wasn’t able to turn Tannehill into the next Peyton Manning.
After that, Miami HOPED the Chris Grier led and Brian Flores coached restart of the franchise would create a synergy the franchise hadn’t had since Parcells’ days.
They drafted Tua Tagovailoa with the HOPE he’d be the dynamic quarterback he was at the University of Alabama, but bickering and backstabbing led to a speedy divorce, and a troublesome class action lawsuit that still hangs over the franchise’s head.
Mike McDaniel helped Tagovailoa clean up his game, and led Miami to the playoffs in his first two seasons.
The HOPE was that the young innovative coach would help the franchise take the next step forward, becoming a perennial title contender. But those dreams were as fragile as Tagovailoa, who struggled to stay healthy for all but one of six seasons.
And here we are, 25 years after Hafley’s biggest career mentor, Dave Wannstedt, led the franchise to four straight winning seasons, and its last playoff win in 2000.
There’s HOPE that Miami will find a way out of the wilderness in this new era.
“I want to do it the right way,” Hafley said. “Build this thing the right way so we can win.”
Let’s HOPE this rebuild isn’t yet another wasted era, and prepare ourselves to endure a challenging season. HOPEfully it’s one full of growth and development, and will help this franchise shed it’s HOPEless ways.
