Yet Another Former Dolphins Calls Out Team's Culture

The Miami Dolphins are trying to change their locker room culture, and everyone knows it. 

Practically every player and coach this offseason has talked about it, and several of the team’s roster-building decisions this offseason were rooted in adding “high culture” players while removing potentially “problematic” players. 

One of the players who left this offseason, offensive tackle Kendall Lamm, recently commented about how much better his new team’s culture is compared to the Dolphins. Lamm signed with the Philadelphia Eagles, a new team known for its culture. 

"I understand why the Eagles reached two Super Bowls in three years: players are never late, never toxic, and after every practice, the room spends 15 minutes sharing personal struggles to stay mentally sharp - something I never got with the Dolphins," Lamm said in an interview with ESPN.

Lamm’s comments don’t tell us anything new about the Dolphins’ culture problems from last season. We knew players were late, and we knew there were "toxic" players in the locker room. 

What Lamm’s comments do confirm is just how bad things were in Miami. 

What the Dolphins Are Doing About It?

The focus of many of the interviews during the team’s recent mandatory minicamp was on the team’s self-reported improved culture. 

When pressed for specifics on how the team’s culture has improved this offseason, Coach Mike McDaniel gave a lengthy but spirited answer. 

“I think some of the non-negotiables were the football program has to focus on football," McDaniel said. "For that to happen, there are a lot of things that can’t dominate people’s time, which is like, first and foremost, being on time. 

"Being accountable to each other and staying to the rules or feeling very open as a team that, hey, it’s OK to call someone out when they deserve to be called out, and for those people, it’s OK to be called out as long as you change your (expletive) behavior.” 

Clearly, there’s a focus on accountability, which makes sense given all the reports of players not being on time, most recently from Lamm. 

The Dolphins are saying the right things, and that’s all they can do right now. However, we won’t know if the team’s culture has actually improved until they face some adversity during the season. 

The Eagles' Blueprint

What’s ironic about Lamm highlighting the Eagles’ great culture is that they made a big pivot in that area last season. 

At the end of the 2023 season, things in Philadelphia were not good. The team started the season 10-1, only to finish 11-7 and get bounced in the first round of the playoffs against Tampa Bay in blowout fashion. 

That offseason, major think pieces were written about the divide between quarterback Jalen Hurts and Coach Nick Sirianni. Rumors circulated that the team was thinking about firing Sirianni, too. 

Outspoken players, such as wide receiver A.J. Brown, were making their voices heard in the media. All signs pointed to a failure of team culture, and things didn’t get immediately better, either. 

The Eagles started the 2024 season 2-2 and didn’t play particularly well in their 15-12 win against the Saints. However, Philadelphia had a Week 5 bye and managed to rip off 10 straight wins after that. 

OK, so what does all that mean for Miami? For one, it’s possible to turn team culture problems around. There’s an even argument that Philadelphia’s issues in 2023 were worse than what happened to Miami in 2024. 

Secondly, winning solves most problems. 

One of the challenging aspects of evaluating culture from the outside is that it sparks a “The chicken or the egg?” debate. 

Did the Eagles win 10 straight games because they were a talented team? Or did they figure out something during the bye week that flipped the locker room culture and got everyone playing better? 

Ultimately, the answer is probably a little bit of both. The lesson for Miami is that being accountable is good, but if it doesn’t result in wins, it doesn’t actually matter. 

Another parallel is that the Eagles lost one of their best leaders, center Jason Kelce, to retirement, just like the Dolphins lost offensive tackle Terron Armstead to retirement this offseason. Still, the Eagles turned it around.

Lamm’s comments make it clear the Dolphins needed to change, but the Eagles prove that it can be done. We’ll just have to wait and see if Miami can flip the script this season.

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