NFL insider says Dolphins had ‘cultural issues’ in camp: ‘It’s just bad vibes’

The Miami Dolphins have yet to pick up a single victory since the beginning of the 2025 season, and they will soon be in grave danger of dropping to 0-3 on the campaign, as Miami has a bout against the undefeated Buffalo Bills looming on Sept. 18.

However, it seems as if the Dolphins dealt with their fair share of issues before the campaign even started. NFL insider Dianna Russini of The Athletic said on a podcast appearance that Miami had “cultural issues” during training camp, and she called the Dolphins a “bad vibes team.”

“Even during camp, I heard about some cultural issues,” she said. “Usually, that’s a nice way to say there’s players talking up and players not buying in to the program and not doing the things that they need to do. And look, you got to figure Jalen Ramsey was maybe part of that. We’ve seen him before. We’ve seen him do it, right? He’s pretty outspoken.

“And you see him now with the [Pittsburgh] Steelers defense. That’s not great either, but he’s made some plays. So, they obviously address some of that going, ‘All right, we gotta fix some of this and get rid of some of the issues.’ But the issues are still there. And Tua’s part of it, but they need him.”

Russini continued.

“The Dolphins are in a really bad position here,” she said. “They’ve got the Bills on a short week, right? Then they’ve got this long week before they play on Monday Night Football. So, you gotta wonder if there’s gonna be changes. And I have nothing to report at this moment of hot seat, but it doesn’t look right.

Even [Mike] McDaniel on the sidelines, he doesn’t even look himself. His head was just in the call sheet, and usually he’s up with the guys. It’s just bad vibes, you know? I think it’s that simple. They’re the bad vibes team this year.”

The Monday Night Football game for the Dolphins that Russini is referring to is a Sept. 29 bout versus the New York Jets. Fortunately for Miami, New York is also 0-2 on the campaign and just recently lost to the Bills by 20 points on Sunday.

While the Dolphins still certainly didn’t like the final outcome of their recent Week 2 contest against the New England Patriots, there were at least more positive takeaways to glean from that contest compared to their disastrous Week 1 showing against the Indianapolis Colts. For one, Miami’s offense looked a whole lot better and dropped 27 points and racked up 358 yards.

Tyreek Hill also looked more like the dominant receiver he was earlier in his Dolphins tenure, as he totaled 109 receiving yards on six receptions.

Comparatively, the Dolphins were only able to muster eight points versus the Colts to open the season, and Tagovailoa completed just 14 of his 23 passing attempts while also throwing a pair of interceptions. Miami’s 211 yards of offense in that contest also marked the team’s fewest in a start by Tagovailoa since McDaniel was installed as Brian Flores’ successor.

So far, the Dolphins have looked like a “bad vibes team” as Russini labeled them, but they could certainly change the vibes for the better with a win over the Bills on Thursday.

Fans of the Dolphins shouldn’t expect them to beat a Bills team that has had Miami’s number in recent years, however. The last time Miami beat Buffalo was all the way back in 2022.