After finishing with a 9-8 record for the second year in a row in 2022 but making the playoffs for the first time since 2016, the Miami Dolphins entered this offseason with the goal of improving their roster and coaching staff for the upcoming season.
To do so, they fired defensive coordinator Josh Boyer, replacing him with Vic Fangio, who’s widely considered one of the best defensive minds in the game today. They also traded for cornerback Jalen Ramsey and signed some key free agents, including linebacker David Long, safety DeShon Elliott and wide receivers Robbie Chosen (formerly Robbie Anderson) and Braxton Berrios.
With that, ESPN recently updated their Football Power Index with projections for 2023, and they have the Dolphins with the third-best odds of winning their division at 22%. They’re currently behind the Buffalo Bills, who had the league’s second-highest FPI rating, at 44%, and the New York Jets at 25%.
Miami’s FPI rating is +3.0, which puts them tied for seventh in the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys and the Dolphins’ Week 1 opponent – the Los Angeles Chargers.
When it comes to Super Bowl odds, Mike McDaniel’s squad is tied for ninth at just 3% along with the Chargers, Baltimore Ravens and Jacksonville Jaguars.
Following all of the work that McDaniel and general manager Chris Grier have done this offseason, and may continue to do after June 1 when they get another $13.6 million in cap space due to Byron Jones’ release, Miami is probably around where they should be.
A few teams are above them, like the Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions that probably won’t finish with better records than the Dolphins in 2023, but they’re both up-and-coming teams along with aqua and orange, so it shouldn’t be considered a huge slight.
On top of that, there are questions surrounding quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s durability after suffering at least two concussions during the 2022 season that knocked him out for the rest of the season from Christmas on.
Miami hopes that the addition of Mike White as the team’s backup should help ease any transition if one is necessary, but they’re hoping more that Tagovailoa plays a full, healthy season and picks up where he left off last year, as he was one of the league’s best at the position when healthy.
