3 Miami Dolphins Bounce-Back Candidates for 2025 Season

After a disappointing 2024 season, plenty of Miami Dolphins players are in line for a bounce-back campaign this coming season. 

While the whole team needs a considerable bounceback if it's going to meet expectations this season, we’ve decided to focus on three players with the best chance to improve upon their stats and performance from last season. 

Just because a player makes this list doesn’t mean they were “bad” in 2024. It just means it wasn’t their best season, and they’ve got a chance to improve in 2025. 

3 Dolphins Bounce-Back Candidates 

Jaylen Waddle, Wide Receiver 

Waddle didn’t play poorly last season at all, but his numbers took a fair nosedive. 

Waddle recorded 58 catches for 744 yards and two touchdowns last season, marking the first time in his career that he had less than 70 catches, 1,000 yards, and four touchdowns. 

Like several of Miami’s pass catchers, Waddle fell victim to dealing with the Dolphins’ poor backup quarterback situation. Waddle got just 23 targets in the four games Tyler Huntley started last season. 

Additionally, Miami struggled to push the ball downfield regardless of who was at quarterback. The Dolphins finished last in completions that had at least 20 air yards, limiting what Waddle could produce downfield. 

This season should be different for a few reasons. For starters, it would be wise for Miami to highlight Waddle more than Tyreek Hill in 2025. Hill is clearly playing his last season with the team, and Waddle signed an extension last May. 

Getting Waddle back to producing high-caliber 1,000-yard seasons would benefit the Dolphins in the present and future. 

Also, it’s hard to imagine that head coach and playcaller Mike McDaniel didn’t spend the offseason figuring out ways to improve the team’s deep passing. The Dolphins’ dink-and-dunk offense was a product of how defenses played them, but it’s not sustainable. 

Finding ways to get Waddle free downfield should be one of the team’s primary focuses on offense this season. Assuming Tua Tagovailoa plays most of the team’s games, Waddle has a good chance to bounce back in a big way this season. 

De’Von Achane, Running Back 

Like Waddle, Achane wasn’t “bad” last season. In fact, he improved most of his numbers from his rookie season. However, that was due to increased opportunity, not a major development in Achane’s game. 

On film, Achane seemed to regress with the additional opportunities he got as a runner. His contact balance wasn’t as good in 2024, leading to shorter runs and fewer explosives at the second level. 

His vision was also incredibly inconsistent, as the Dolphins’ offensive line would give him some room, but Achane was sometimes too impatient to find it. The big number for Achane will be improving his per-carry average, which dropped from 7.8 to 4.5 last season. 

His 7.8 average in 2023 wasn’t sustainable, but he’s capable of doing better than 4.5. Achane is the type of back who benefits from getting fewer carries, and it seems like Jaylen Wright is set to pick up more of the load in 2025. 

Achane’s 203 carries last season led the team by 119 (Raheem Mostert was second with 84). When you factor in his 78 catches (third on the team), Achane fell just short of 300 touches. 

Coming out of college, Achane was never projected to be a bell-cow back. He was supposed to be a committee back who brought speed and pass-catching prowess. 

It seems like the Dolphins are leaning more into that philosophy in 2025, which should help Achane become much more efficient again. 

Tyrel Dodson, Linebacker 

Dodson began bouncing back at the end of the 2024 season, but he’s got an excellent opportunity to become a long-term starter in 2025. 

That’s a bounce-back for Dodson because the Seahawks cut him after he made nine starts last year. Miami signed him, and he eventually got into the starting lineup. Dodson made three starts down the stretch and played significant snaps in four games. 

His tape was a bit of a rollercoaster at times, but the highs were good enough for Miami to re-sign him to a two-year, $6.25 million contract this offseason. 

Dodson is the leader to start next to Jordyn Brooks in Week 1, but he’s got plenty of competition. The Dolphins added free agents K.J. Britt and Willie Gay Jr. this offseason, each of whom has played significant snaps in previous stops. 

A key area for improvement for Dodson will be reducing his missed tackle rate. He had a 14.3 missed tackle rate in his eight weeks with Miami, which would be the highest mark of his career since his rookie season. 

Overall, Dodson’s missed tackle rate was just 10.8 last season. That number isn’t alarming, but it was a troubling trend when he joined the Dolphins. 

With a solid season next to a budding star in Brooks, Dodson can become a quality starter just one season after getting cut in the middle of the year. That would be quite the bounceback. 

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