Dolphins Flavor in AFC Championship Game
The NFL is down to its final four, and it's impossible not to see Miami Dolphins storylines all over the place.
We can start with significant trades, all involving at least one first-round pick, with three of the final four teams — Kansas City, Philadelphia and San Francisco.
But the biggest Dolphins angle in the conference championship games involves the Cincinnati Bengals because of their coaching staff but mostly because of what might have been.
SHOULD DOLPHINS HAVE BEEN THE BENGALS?
There are several reasons the Bengals have gone from perennial also-rans to the precipice of a second consecutive Super Bowl appearance, but clearly none is bigger than Joe Burrow.
And it's painful for the Dolphins and their fans to watch Burrow gradually rise to the top of the NFL quarterback ranks considering that Miami easily could have landed Burrow after he produced arguably the greatest college football season ever in 2019.
We all remember 2019, don't we?
And, no, this isn't about the Dolphins defeating the Bengals in Week 16 that season despite blowing a 35-19 lead in the final minute of regulation.
What's often been misstated is that a loss in that game would have given the Dolphins the first pick in the 2020 draft and therefore the chance to get Burrow. But the reality is that the Dolphins were 3-11 and the Bengals were 1-13 when the teams faced each other at Hard Rock Stadium.
So even with a Cincinnati victory in that game, the Dolphins still would have needed for the Bengals to defeat Cleveland in their season finale (which is what happened) and they would have had to lose at New England (which they didn't), and maybe the Bengals would have "found a way" to lose that last game against Cleveland.
The truth is the Dolphins messed up by going 5-4 in their final nine games, and it can be argued that happened because of the strange decision to install Ryan Fitzpatrick as the full-time starting quarterback.
The Dolphins were in clear rebuild mode — some have used the term "tanking mode" — after dumping a slew of high-profile veterans to stockpile draft picks and create cap space.
There was no chance of competing for a playoff spot during that rebuild, so going with Fitzpatrick to win a few games instead of rolling with Josh Rosen made zero sense in the big picture. And the Dolphins easily could justify finishing out the season with Rosen after they had traded second- and fifth-round picks to Arizona in the offseason to take a shot that he could become a long-term answer at quarterback.
Given what we saw from Rosen during his 2019 appearances, how many wins do we really think the Dolphins would have gotten that season?
As it was, the Dolphins finished 5-11 and ended up with the fifth overall pick, which they used to take Tua Tagovailoa over Justin Herbert in a still-debating choice.
Cincinnati reportedly resisted multiple trade offers from the Dolphins for that top pick and made the no-brainer move of drafting Burrow, and then followed up with great picks at the top of the second and third rounds with wide receiver Tee Higgins and linebacker Logan Wilson.
The Dolphins, meanwhile, followed up the selection of Tagovailoa, who's still not a slam-dunk franchise quarterback three years later, by picking Austin Jackson and Noah Igbinoghene, who are closer to busts at this point than NFL contributors.
Looking at the Bengals, we also can't help but notice the heavy Dolphins flavor on their coaching staff, with head coach Zac Taylor, defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, defensive line coach Marion Hobby, cornerbacks coach Charles Burks all having worked for the Dolphins over the past decade — Burks was on Brian Flores' staff.
And that doesn't include assistant linebackers coach Jordan Kovacs, who played 28 games for the Dolphins from 2013-15.
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THE DOLPHINS TRADES WITH THE CONTENDERS
When it comes to the Bengals' opponents Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Dolphins connection of course is the Tyreek Hill trade.
It was a trade that worked out great for both teams because while Hill was the Dolphins MVP in 2022, letting him go gave the Chiefs the kind of financial flexibility they needed to add depth to their roster.
And the Chiefs obviously were correct in their belief that Patrick Mahomes and their passing game still would thrive even without the most explosive wide receiver in the NFL.
That last point is yet more evidence of the importance of having an elite quarterback who can succeed in most circumstances and can elevate the play of those around him — kind of like Burrow has done in Cincinnati.
Over in the NFC, the two opponents were involved in the two big trades the Dolphins made involving 2021 first-round picks.
In those trades, the Dolphins picked up two first-round picks from the 49ers to move down from 3 to 12 and then gave up one of those additional first-round picks to the Eagles to move up from 12 to 6 and select Jaylen Waddle.
With those two first-round picks, the Eagles took WR Devonta Smith in 2021 (at 10 after moving up with Dallas) and DT Jordan Davis in 2022. While Smith is a key factor in the Eagles offense, Davis' rookie season was derailed by injuries, though he showed tremendous potential at times.
As for the 49ers, the trade with the Dolphins looks really bad right now because Brock Purdy sure looks like their QB moving forward, meaning they gave up two first-round picks for a prospect (Trey Lance) whose future with the 49ers already is in question.
Then again, the 49ers are in the NFC Championship Game for a second consecutive year (and third time in four years), so it's not like the trade really has hurt them.
Oh, on a closing note, we should mention that the 2022 first-round pick the Dolphins got from the 49ers went to the Chiefs in that Hill trade — the 2023 pick was sent to Denver in the November trade that brought in edge defender Bradley Chubb.
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