Miami Dolphins Find Themselves in Bottom of the Barrel in Recent NFL Power Rankings

The dog days of the NFL offseason are here, and Logan Ulrich of NFL Trade Rumors recently compiled a power ranking of the league’s 32 teams ahead of the 2025 campaign. Unfortunately, in all likelihood, the lion’s share of Miami Dolphins fans aren’t going to be happy with where Ulrich ranked the Dolphins.

Not only did Ulrich rank every team in order, but he also divided the power ranking into tiers, with the tiers comprising heavyweight contenders, midweight contenders, lightweight contenders, playoff hopefuls, middle-of-the-pack teams, and bottom-of-the-barrel teams. The Dolphins were ranked as the 26th-best team in the league and part of the bottom-of-the-barrel category.

For his rationale, Ulrich cited the uncertainty surrounding tight end Jonnu Smith‘s and cornerback Jalen Ramsey‘s futures in Miami as well as the team’s penchant for unraveling at the end of seasons.

For as valid as Ulrich’s criticisms are, it’s hard to believe that the Dolphins will truly be one of the NFL’s bottom-feeders next season unless quarterback Tua Tagovailoa gets bit by the injury bug once again. Tagovailoa has played more than 13 games in just one of his first five seasons in the NFL.

When Tagovailoa is at full strength and leading the offense, Miami has been a consistently successful team, at least in the regular season. The Dolphins have a record of 38-24 over the years with Tagovailoa as their starting signal-caller and were 6-5 with him on the field in the 2024 season.

Hopefully, the Dolphins will prove Ulrich wrong next season and not only avoid being a bottom-of-the-barrel team but also return to the playoffs. Miami missed the playoffs a season ago after it won just eight of its 17 contests, and that marked the first time the Dolphins didn’t qualify for postseason play since head coach Mike McDaniel took over as the team’s head coach.