Dolphins 2025 Week 3 Power Rankings Roundup

The Miami Dolphins' already low standing among national media rankers took another hit after the disappointing loss against the New England Patriots in their home opener.

In our weekly survey of nine national outlets — Sports Illustrated, Pro Football Talk, CBS Sports, NFL.com, The Athletic, ESPN, The Ringer, USA Today and The Sporting News — the Dolphins dropped to an average ranking of 30.2, with five outlets putting them dead last at 32nd.

No outlet had the Dolphins higher than 26th.

Here's the breakdown of the Dolphins' nine power rankings spots heading into Week 3 of the 2025 regular season, along with the commentary associated with it:

THE DOLPHINS IN NATIONAL POWER RANKINGS

Sports Illustrated

Ranking: 31
Last week: 31

Analysis: People will have big takes on this. I continue to view Mike McDaniel as a national treasure. 

Pro Football Talk

Ranking: 32
Last week: 32

Analysis: Tick. Tick. Tick.

CBS Sports

Ranking: 27
Last week: 28

Analysis: At 0-2, they head to Buffalo to play the Bills on Thursday night. If that gets ugly, the calls for Mike McDaniel's job will get more pronounced.

NFL.com

Ranking: 32
Last week: 28

Analysis: The Dolphins are 0-2 with a short-week trip to Buffalo this week. They sure had their chancesagainst the Patriots, who insisted on keeping the door wide open, but the Fins couldn't string enough plays together. The big play was back on Sunday, which was nice, but the Pats weren't offering a ton of resistance. Tua Tagovailoa missed a wide-open Tyreek Hilllate, andDe'Von Achanestepped out of bounds on what could have been the game-winning score. This was an improvement from Week 1, but it's hard to be too encouraged by the product we've seen through two games. The Dolphins are taking on water, and Thursday could be a deluge if they're not vastly better.

The Ringer

Ranking: 26
Last week: 28

Analysis: The Dolphins have been a bit of a punching bag in our power rankings over the past year. I wish it weren’t that way, but how else can you react to this downward spiral? Consider everything that’s happened in the past 12 days:  an embarrassing loss to Indianapolis, a players-only meeting ahead of Week 2, and a loss to division rival New England at home on Sunday. (Not to mention that Keeta Vaccaro recently stated in court filings that Tyreek Hill domestically abused her.) Against a second-year quarterback and a Patriots roster without any real star players, there’s no excuse for Miami to fall behind by two scores in the first quarter and give up 33 total points.

USA Today

Ranking: 32
Last week: 32

Analysis: Give them points for consistency given they've surrendered 33 points each of the first two weeks and have yet to generate a turnover.

The Sporting News

Ranking: 32
Last week: 31

Analysis: The Dolphins showed a lot more life in Week 2 with Tua Tagovailoa. They even had a nice lead on the Patriots, but their defense still stinks as well as their overall vibe and energy under Mike McDaniel. A change might be coming sooner rather than later.

The Athletic

Ranking: 32
Last week: 32

Analysis: A short week may be the only thing saving McDaniel this week. The Dolphins showed some life Sunday, but McDaniel's offense contributed only two touchdowns. Defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver interviewed for head coaching jobs in Chicago and New Orleans earlier this year, and he might get to be Miami's interim head coach soon if the Bills embarrass the Dolphins on Thursday night.

ESPN

Ranking: 28
Last week: 26

Analysis on the biggest takeaway: Tua Tagovailoa can succeed only with a sound run game. Tagovailoa was bad in Week 1 and markedly improved in Week 2, but the one constant in both games was Miami's lack of a rushing attack. The Dolphins have averaged 69.5 rushing yards per game this season, the fourth fewest in the NFL. Considering Tagovailoa is not a threat to run, defenses can key in on the Dolphins' passing game and drop seven or more defenders into coverage -- the Patriots did that on 97% of his dropbacks. If Miami's run game can get going, its offense will be less predictable, which won't force Tagovailoa to create outside of structure.

THE DOLPHINS OPPONENT RANKINGS

For the record, the Dolphins' upcoming opponent, the New England Patriots, have an average ranking of 25.9 (the same as Week 1 opponent Indianapolis before that game), with a high of 24 and a low of 28.

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