Top 10 lessons Dolphins should have learned from 2024

MIAMI — Whether the Miami Dolphins qualify for the playoffs, or not …

Whether South Florida’s NFL franchise produces a winning record for the fifth straight season, or not …

Whether Tua Tagovailoa is shelved for Sunday’s game because of his lingering hip injury or not, the Dolphins will walk away with tons of lessons from this season that should be beneficial to the franchise morning forward since it seems we will be keeping things status quo, with a few exceptions.

Whether you agree or disagree with the stance owner Steve Ross likely takes next week, staying the course, fostering continued continuity by not making changes at general manager and head coach, there’s an opportunity to learn from past mistakes.

And here are the top 10 lessons the Dolphins should take from 2024 with the hope that history, and mistakes don’t repeat themselves:

1. Teams toughness must be addressed.

There’s a common thread about Mike McDaniel’s Dolphins that must be fixed, and that’s the team’s inability to win critical games against playoff-caliber opponents. When the pressure gets magnified, McDaniel’s team hasn’t shown up for three seasons with a few exceptions (Dallas last year, and the Los Angeles Rams this season), and those struggles fueling a soft reputation that must be addressed to end the soon-to-be 25-year drought of not winning a playoff game. From my perspective, this comes down to getting better in the trenches, and being more disciplined when facing top-notch opponents.

2. Tua Tagovailoa is just as fragile as we feared.

About half a dozen teams removed Tagovailoa from their draft board entirely in 2020 fearing that his body wouldn’t hold up in the NFL, and this season’s concussion, and the recent hip issues have proven there’s merit to those concerns. As talented as Tagovailoa is when it comes to his accuracy and precision passing, there is concern about whether he will be able to play 14 or more games a season moving forward. That’s why the Dolphins need to put an emphasis on having a top-shelf backup, one who can execute McDaniel’s effectively with little drop-off. Tyler “Snoop” Huntley is getting an extended audition these two games, and it will be interesting to see if he can claim the spot with stellar play.

3. Be careful who you do, and don’t hand out extensions to.

Ross was handing out contract extensions like he was hosting an Oprah Winfrey’s “My Favorite Things” episode this offseason. Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle got extensions. Raheem Mostert and Jalen Ramsey got extensions. McDaniel got an extension, but none of those players [or coaches] delivered the type of performance they had in 2023 for various reasons, and the team fell short of expectations because of it. On the flip side, safety Jevon Holland didn’t get an extension and played all season like he was trying to avoid getting hurt. If Holland had some security maybe he wouldn’t have taken that approach, but can you blame him considering he broke his hand and suffered a knee injury this season?

4. Bodies 30 and over don’t last.

For years the NFL has acted like a 30-year-old player needs to be taken out to the back and put down. It’s clear that football is a young man’s game, but when a team consistently mismanages the roster’s payroll like the Dolphins have, and routinely misses on draft picks (like the Dolphins have), it’s the discounted 30-year-olds who are forced to come to a team’s rescue. Problem is, those bodies typically don’t hold up, and that was the case yet again with the Dolphins. Terron Armstead, Kendall Lamm and Anthony Walker Jr’s bodies failed them. Jordan Poyer and Mostert played like they each lost a step. Hill’s body finally started betraying him. The Dolphins roster has to get younger, and that might require the franchise take a step back to take two steps forward.

5. Not enough of an investment was put into the trenches.

This team was handicapped by lackluster play from the offensive line most of this season. The guard play was lackluster all year, and when Austin Jackson sustained his season-ending knee injury in early November the run game vanished. And it didn’t help that Miami treated the defensive line like an afterthought all season. If Calais Campbell hadn’t signed with the Dolphins at the last minute Miami’s defense would be a disaster. The 2025 offseason needs produce half a dozen 300-pounders who will help the Dolphins own the line of scrimmage on offense and defense.

6. No run game, no big-play production.

The Dolphins went from being the NFL’s biggest big-play producing team in 2022 and 2023 to creating the fewest 30-yard plays in the NFL in 2024. The Dolphins only delivered 11 plays of 30 or more yards in 2024. Miami’s average of 103.8 rushing yards per game is 15.8 yards shy of what the NFL’s average is for this season, and Miami’s 3.91 yards per carry average is more than half a yard shy of what the NFL is averaging (4.43). Without the need to respect Miami’s rushing attack teams cap off their secondary with two-safety-high looks, preventing Miami’s deep passes. It’s clear that this offense isn’t the same without big plays from Hill and Waddle.

7. Grier needs to do a better job building the team.

Every general manager hits and misses on draft picks and free agent additions. But Grier’s success rate is on the lower end of his peers. The Dolphins have a 35 percent retention rate for draft picks since he took over as the top football executive, and the good teams in this league have a 50 or better retention rate. While this offseason did feature four stellar free agent additions in Jonnu Smith, Aaron Brewer, Jordyn Brooks and Campbell, the misses (Skylar Thompson as the primary backup at quarterback, not offering Pro Bowl pass rusher Andrew Van Ginkel, the signing of Poyer, who performed like the 33-year-old he is) were glaring, and handcuffed this team.

8. McDaniel must focus on running a more disciplined team.

There were stretches earlier in the season where the Dolphins’ penalty-prone play cost the team dearly in close losses. It also cost them in the Green Bay and Houston losses, which are two games that put Miami in this position where they don’t control their own fate. Young teams can make those kinds of mistakes, but the Dolphins possesses one of the oldest rosters in 2024. McDaniel started to make roster and depth chart changes around midseason, but that’s after two and a half years of being too loyal to his players.

9. A tight end can enhance Miami’s offense.

Smith is one touchdown away from owning all the single-season tight end records in franchise history, and could very well end the season as Miami’s receptions leader considering he enters Sunday’s game with 79 receptions, which is tied with Hill for the team lead. With Smith under contract for $4.1 million next season it’s possible that Miami can double down on tight end use next season. Just imagine what could happen if the Dolphins get better blocking from Durham Smythe and Julian Hill.

10. Short-yardage situations continue to be an issue

The Dolphins hold the distinction of being the NFL’s worst short-yardage team for three straight seasons, and there’s no end in sight for this perplexing issue. Despite being one of the few teams to utilize a fullback, the Dolphins offense continues its struggles converting short-yardage plays on third and fourth down. Nothing will change until Miami puts more of an emphasis on improving the offensive guard play. Consistently losing the A and B gap all season was crippling, and should be a point of emphasis on how to build this team better in 2025.