Dolphins Need to Acquire Leaders On and Off the Field to be Successful

Originally posted on Dolphins Talk | By Jackson Buhler | Last updated Oct 13, 2025 6:02 AM ET

Dolphins Need to Acquire Leaders On and Off the Field to be Successful

We should have seen this coming.

In the off-season, there was a mass exodus of productive veterans off the Dolphins’ roster.

Whether it was Jalen Ramsey, Terron Armstead, or Calais Campbell, anyone who had a perceived voice in the locker room was gone.

Miami’s front office explained it as a purging of bad apples, as a lot of the veterans who departed reportedly missed multiple meetings and were bad influences in the locker room.

It seemed that Miami tried to inject youth this season while adding veterans on cheap, team-friendly deals.

Well, that plan clearly did not work.

Through six weeks of the regular season, Miami is 1-5, and from the head coach down to the last player on the 53-man roster, there is dysfunction.

Everywhere.

After a brutal week 1 loss to the Colts, the Dolphins held a players-only team meeting.

We should have known then that the season was off the rails.

Even though the team has consistently been competitive, it seems like after each loss, there are comments from one player or another about the team’s lack of motivation.

Whether it is missing a meeting or not coming in on off-days, there seems to be a lack of respect for their peers among Dolphins players.

When that occurs, the season is lost because the players will not fight for each other and try to rally for a playoff push.

It seems like there needs to be a total purge of the veteran talent of this team, and in its place, there needs to be an infusion of young talent who can be molded into winners.

At the end of this season, Miami will presumably have a new general manager, a new head coach, and a new quarterback.

While all of that sounds great, the fortunes of this team will hinge upon whether the team truly fights for each other and does all of the right things off the field.

In 2020 and 2023, the last two seasons in which the franchise posted a 10-win or more season, it seemed like the whole was bought in and playing as a unit.

Miami needs to find players who want to be here if it wants to be an organization that will be taken seriously.

The Dolphins can accumulate all the talent in the world if they want next season.

But if that talent does not invest in the totality of the sport, it will not matter, and we will be back to square one.

Yet, if the Dolphins can put the right pieces together both on and off the field, they can build an organization that this fanbase deserves.

A consistent winner.

This article first appeared on Dolphins Talk and was syndicated with permission.

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