The Redskins and the Dolphins: A tale of two tanks

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - AUGUST 29: Head coach Brian Flores of the Miami Dolphins looks on during an NFL preseason game against the New Orleans Saints at the Mercedes Benz Superdome on August 29, 2019 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - AUGUST 29: Head coach Brian Flores of the Miami Dolphins looks on during an NFL preseason game against the New Orleans Saints at the Mercedes Benz Superdome on August 29, 2019 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images) /
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MIAMI, FL – AUGUST 22: Head Coach Brian Flores of the Miami Dolphins coaching in the fourth quarter during the preseason game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Hard Rock Stadium on August 22, 2019 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images)
MIAMI, FL – AUGUST 22: Head Coach Brian Flores of the Miami Dolphins coaching in the fourth quarter during the preseason game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Hard Rock Stadium on August 22, 2019 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) /

The Dolphins

After going 7-9 in 2018, the Dolphins fired head coach Adam Gase and blew up the coaching department. In his place, they hired Brian Flores, the Patriots’ former linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator, with the hopes of imbuing the Patriots culture into Miami’s locker room.

Such an experiment has failed before, but those teams didn’t go all-in. The Dolphins are going all-in, and so they’re giving themselves a chance. They overhauled their coaching staff. They let various high-priced free agents, such as Ja’Wuan James and Cameron Wake, walk in free agency. They traded Ryan Tannehill to the Titans for a fourth-round pick. They traded a second-round pick for Josh Rosen, a high-upside passer, on the second day of the 2019 NFL Draft.

The Miami Dolphins purged their roster of nearly all established talent, conveyed an obvious unified emphasis toward development and reconstruction, and received a massive influx of draft assets as a result. They had accepted that, to turn the franchise around, they needed to start over, with unwavering and unforgiving totality.

It goes without saying, but the Dolphins are winless through four games. They’ve been outscored 26 to 163 by opponents, building a whopping point discrepancy of 137 points. An average deficit of 34.25 points per game.

But the Dolphins have put themselves in a position where this historic ineptitude will benefit them in the long run, if they play their cards right. After trading Laremy Tunsil, Kenny Stills, and Minkah Fitzpatrick, they have three first-round picks in the 2019 NFL Draft. They have seven total picks on Days 1 and 2 in 2020, and they have fourteen total picks. They’re projected to have over $117 million in cap space next offseason.

It’s ugly right now. But it’s all part of the plan.