Five Things I Think I Think About the Miami Dolphins - 2022 Recap

No, you aren’t experiencing deja vu (all over again). Or are you? What is the nature of reality, anyway?

Not the point of this article, that’s what.

At the beginning of this season, I made five predictions. They can be (re)branded into your soul here. There’s no point in making prognostications if no one’s going to nosticate you when some of them aren’t progs.

Let’s evaluate my frivolity together, shall we?

Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle will both have over 1,000 yards receiving

Verdict: True!

Starting off with kind of a freebie. Barring injury, it was a pretty likely outcome that Cheetah and the Penguin (this fall on ABC, Sundays 7:00/6:00 Central) would both eclipse the 1,000 yard receiving mark, especially in the now 17 game season.

Hill finished second among all receivers with 1710 yards while Waddle landed at seventh with 1356. Through the year’s seemingly constant QB carousel, Hill and Waddle kept pace and Fins fans will expect to see that continue into next season and beyond.

Emmanuel Ogbah and Jaelan Phillips will both have double digit sacks

Verdict: False!

Miami looked to have a burgeoning Dynamic Duo of pass rushers with veteran Emmanuel Ogbah and second year-er Jaelan Phillips. Given their successful 2021 campaigns, it seemed reasonable to anticipate growth in their skills and output for 2022.

Alas, Ogbah went down after 9 games having amassed exactly 1 sack while Phillips recorded 7 sacks along with a smorgasbord of completely ridiculous roughing the passer calls. Ogbah’s contract and Miami’s cap situation may preclude him from continuing with the Dolphins, but Phillips showed he’s here to stay and make opposing quarterbacks feel just a little queasy behind center.

An injury to one offensive lineman will cause complete catastrophe

Verdict: Ehhh?

This is a little hard to gauge. What really is a catastrophe? Like, a complete one?

Terron Armstead missed weeks 11, 13, 17, and 18 along with most of week 5, half of week 12, and a bit of week 10. I don’t have reliable data to back it up, but my eyeballs told me that the line suffered in his absence. Unlike years past, however, one key player missing didn’t seem to cause the line to completely implode. They played worse, but historically when the anchor of the line went down, the line would reshuffle everyone in a devastating game of musical chairs to ensure that each player was at his worst position. This season saw less reconfiguring and a more shallow drop off. So that’s nice.

The only tangible offensive line ranking data is behind the PFF paywall, so let’s just say Miami finished with the #1 line in the league and there’s nothing else to see here.

The Dolphins will have two first team All-Pros

Verdict: False!

At the onset of the season, it felt like this was a real possibility. So much potential on the horizon. So much hope.

When will we ever learn?

Fortunately, Tyreek Hill held down the fort with his fourth First Team All Pro selection. Unfortunately, there weren’t many other candidates who could make a case for Miami. Plenty of players had good seasons, but no one really separated from the pack quite like Hill. The good news is that, barring a mass exodus of talent, there’s still a lot of potential floating around to make this one true sooner than later.

Big Bold Boy: Jevon Holland will win Defensive Player of the Year

Verdict: False!

Ya gotta swing for the fences every so often, even if you might whiff. Remember, Mr. October (not to be confused with Mr. January) leads in all time strikeouts.

The NFL just announced the finalists for its year end awards and Jevon Holland isn’t one of the three names vying for Defensive Player of the Year. Holland had a strong sophomore season, finishing with 96 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 1 FF, 7 PBUs, and 2 INTs.

This seasons’ finalists (Micah Parsons, Chris Jones, and Nick Bosa) all have double digit sacks (13.5, 15.5, and 18.5 respectively), so there’s clearly a bias toward gaudy QB takedown figures, but if Holland can become a ballhawk and pull down some eye popping pick numbers to go with his steady play elsewhere, maybe he’ll get some late season looks from people other than me.

Final Verdict

1.5/5

Hey! That’s .5 better than last year. At this rate, I’ll be perfect in 2029.

JK. The Dolphins will be in London by then. Cheerio!

What are your predictions for the offseason? Next season? 2029? Force feed them to the comments below.