Who Needs To Step Up?

This truly is a make-or-break season for the entire staff and even the core nucleus of players. It’s on the entire team to make this right. Of the people we know who will be with the Miami Dolphins for the 2025 season, here’s a list of individuals and/or units that need to take a step up:

Jaylen Waddle
Waddle is coming off his worst season as a Miami Dolphin, and to add insult to injury, it follows a 3-year, $84.75 million contract extension. As one of the core young players for this team, we need him to be more reliable—both in terms of availability and performance in big games. This seems to be a recurring theme among the stars of this team, and it needs to be addressed if there’s any chance of winning a playoff game.

Tua Tagovailoa
Speaking of reliability, we need Tua Tagovailoa to be someone the Dolphins can depend on to play smart football. If he wants a future in the league, he has to figure out how to stay available and avoid taking unnecessary hits. He’s a great quarterback when healthy, but he has consistently hurt the franchise and his teammates by taking avoidable risks. While the team hasn’t exactly supported him with an O-line or a physical run game, it’s still on Tua to protect himself and the team’s aspirations.

Mike McDaniel
This is who we need to see the biggest improvements from. Early in his career as a first-time head coach, we thought Mike McDaniel could be the savior for this franchise. However, lately, we have more questions than answers about his ability to take us to the promised lands. From the lack of accountability in the locker room to questionable judgment, we need to see him clean up many areas of his game. We’re not sure if he’s lost the locker room yet, but if he doesn’t improve with challenges, personnel usage, and play-calling, it’s only a matter of time before he does.

Safety Group
As for the groups on this team, we need the safety group to step up—whoever that may be when the dust settles. Our safeties didn’t record a single interception last year, and we need to feel their impact in key games. While there will likely be an entire overhaul of this group, Chris Grier must focus on bringing in young playmakers who can help create turnovers for this team.

Defensive Ends
Finally, we need the edge group to step up. In fairness to this unit, most of the starters weren’t healthy, so they had to rely on a rookie and some rotational players. But we need bona fide starters out there creating real havoc for opposing quarterbacks. We saw how dangerous the Houston Texans’ pass rush was when we played them in December, and we also saw their effectiveness against the Chiefs. If we want to be true contenders, we need this unit firing on all cylinders.