The Miami Dolphins have gotten off to a dreadful start in the 2021 NFL season.
After a promising 10-6 campaign in 2020, the Dolphins have taken a major step back this season, and it doesn’t look like the team is going to turn things around to make a playoff run.
Dolphins head coach Brian Flores has been unable to find a winning formula with this year’s team, and one NFL executive believes that may be due to Flores’ constant “shuffling” of the roster and coaching staff.
The Athletic’s Mike Sando spoke to several NFL executives that criticized the Dolphins’ decisions in the draft and free agency, but one pointed at Flores as the problem.
“Everybody wants to focus on Tua [Tagovailoa], but the drafted quarterback is a low-odds gamble for everyone,” another exec said. “I’m more critical of the other moves, the veteran acquisitions who played for one year, including the New England players, and all the other shuffling (Flores) does, including with his staff.”
The Dolphins’ offense has sputtered this season under Tagovailoa, as they are averaging the second fewest yards per play in the NFL (4.8).
Some of that isn’t Tagovailoa’s fault, as he missed several games with an injury to his ribs, but the Dolphins’ roster simply isn’t good enough in the eyes of another NFL executive.
“There are very few core players,” another exec said of the Dolphins’ net gains. “They probably had the most draft capital to work with, and it is not like they have turned themselves into the (1990s) [Dallas] Cowboys. When you miss on that many picks, you have to wonder, ‘Does your coach even know what he wants?’”
It’s a troubling reality for Flores and Miami, and it will be interesting if the coach sticks around for another season if the Dolphins finish with one of the worst records in the NFL in 2021.
