Why This Disappointing Dolphins Season Actually Isn't That Disappointing in the Big Picture

It's been a rough start for the Miami Dolphins in this 2026 season, the 0-5 record bad enough in itself but made worse by the fact the team hasn't had a lead for even one second in 300 minutes of game action.

It's absolutely been rough to watch, but there are two questions that need to be asked, or rather two points that need to be made.

The first one is pretty simple: Is the Dolphins' bad start really start surprising?

The second is more important: Has it changed the overall outlook for the franchise at all?

SHOULD HAVE SEEN DOLPHINS BAD START COMING

The Dolphins' struggles basically boil down to not having enough talent on their roster and also having an awful lot of inexperience with some players who do have enough talent.

And a roster full of young players usually means the kind of mistakes that veteran teams don't make, whether it be untimely penalties or missed assignments.

It's not a big secret that the roster would be deficient this season became GM Jon-Eric Sullivan himself discussed the lack of depth more than once in the buildup to the regular season.

Most of it, of course, was a conscious decision by the organization to reset the salary cap heading into 2027 and that meant getting rid of most of the front-line players who could have helped the Dolphins win some games this year.

The Dolphins' roster moves this year all have been about trying to unearth some hidden gems in the form of young players looking to break through or failed former high draft picks looking to revive their career.

With all of the player acquisitions other than QB Malik Willis, though, the common them has been operating on the cheap.

And, as the old saying goes, you get what you pay for.

BIG PICTURE HAS NOT CHANGED

What the Dolphins are experiencing right now is a lot of growing pains and paying the price for blowing up the roster, and head coach Jeff Hafley said more than once this season was about more than wins and losses — maybe in large part because he, Sullivan and the entire organization knew full well there likely would be way more losses than wins.

The 2026 season, as we wrote in the offseason, was about the progress and development of the young players who hopefully will form the core of a contender sooner rather than later — a group that included Miami's entire rookie draft class as well as recent high picks like Chop Robinson, Kenneth Grant and Jonah Savaiinaea.

It also was about building a foundation, identity — or culture, if you prefer that term. It's about the new Dolphins way, not to be confused with the Green Bay way because Hafley and Sullivan want to put their own stamp on the Dolphins.

And it also was about evaluating Willis to see whether he could become the long-term answer at quarterback.

Looking at those three objectives, there have been enough good performances from young players through the first five games to take some encouragement, the list including Jacob Rodriguez, Kadyn Proctor, Chris Johnson, Michael Taaffe, Trey Moore in training camp, with Robinson showing some improvement.

In terms of building an identity or foundation, that's going to be a work in progress and it obviously will be easier once there's some success in the form of a win or two, though there have been positive signs already based on how the Dolphins have competed.

With Willis, the early returns haven't been very impressive, but there never was a guarantee he was going to be the guy and there's also a lot of time left in this 2026 season for him to provide those signs — because the Dolphins aren't about to pull the plug on his audition anytime soon. Let's also understand that Willis' performance should improve the more time he spends with his teammates on offense, though he does need to stand out on his own merits.

The bottom line is we stand right now about where we were at the start of the regular season, except with five losses, some good performances from some rookies, not nearly as good a start from Willis as hoped, but in the big picture pretty much in the same place.

So, yeah, the 0-5 start does kind of stink a little bit. But this season always was going to be a starting point as the early part of a rebuilding project.

And all things considered, things aren't so terrible because they're not entirely unexpected. And that, like or not, is a better place to be than constantly underachieving.

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