Is the National Media Sleeping on the Dolphins?

The Miami Dolphins don’t seem to be viewed as a major title contender five months before the start of the 2024 regular season

The Miami Dolphins have been among the most consistent teams in the NFL over the past four seasons, but they haven’t gotten over the hump and maybe that’s why they still apparently haven’t won over many in the national media.

A quick sampling of some national media forecasts will show what could be described as a lack of respect for the Dolphins considering their standing as one of only four teams in the NFL with a winning record in each of the past four seasons, along with the Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers.

Among the examples are NFL.com’s list of the 10 most complete teams in the league or their list of the seven teams best positioned to dethrone the two-time Super Bowl champion Chiefs.

Sports Illustrated national writer Matt Verderame predicted every game of the 2024 season and had the Dolphins coming in at 9-8, in a four-way tie for the seventh and final playoff spot in the AFC. Pro Football Network also had the Dolphins with a 9-8 finish, but on the outside looking in in terms of AFC playoffs.

Maybe there’s some justification with the Dolphins’ 1-5 record last season against teams that made the playoffs before their lackluster performance in the playoff loss at Kansas City.

But the counter argument there could be that the Dolphins entered their Week 17 showdown against the Baltimore Ravens looking at the possibility of earning the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs with two victories to end the season.

That didn’t happen, of course, and instead the Dolphins failed to even win the AFC East, but it’s not like they didn’t have a chance to defeat the Bills in the season finale considering they lost by seven points and had the lead going into the fourth quarter until a punt return for a touchdown — made possible in part by punt coverage man Cameron Goode going down with a major knee injury as he was bearing down on return Deonte Hardy.

And we absolutely should consider the injury factor as well, understanding it’s not the sole reason the Dolphins couldn’t defeat the Ravens or Bills or Chiefs at the end of the season.

So were the Dolphins really that far off last season to be dismissed like that as potential contenders?

Yes, the team lost key defensive talent like Christian Wilkins and Xavien Howard in the offseason, but the Dolphins did a very good job of replacing the talent lost (outside of Wilkins), and the offense clearly has more options now than it did last season after the acquisitions of tight end Jonnu Smith and wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., and possibly speedy rookie running back Jaylen Wright as well.

So what gives?

Maybe the national media simply has decided they’ll believe it when they see it when it comes to the Dolphins.