Dolphins’ roster ranked 22nd in the NFL by Pro Football Focus

Part of the challenge of forecasting the Miami Dolphins this season lies with just how much unknown there is with the team’s roster. The Dolphins are young and, in the grand scheme of life in the NFL, inexperienced — and so we can’t say for certain how their first and second year players are going to perform on the field until we get to September. So projecting Miami’s roster versus the rest of the league can be difficult. Suppose Tua Tagovailoa and the team’s three 2020 rookie linemen all take a step forward — Miami’s forecast is suddenly quite bright.

But what if they don’t? That level of unknown likely contributed greatly to the Miami Dolphins’ ranking in the latest exercise from Pro Football Focus: a ranking of all 32 NFL rosters this summer. The Dolphins checked in at No. 22 overall, comfortably in the back half of the league according to PFF.

Here’s what the outlet had to say about Miami:

“Biggest strength: Xavien Howard is coming off a tremendous 2020 season in which he had a legitimate argument for being named Defensive Player of the Year. His 20 combined pass breakups and interceptions last season weren’t an aberration, either. In fact, 18.7% of Howard’s targets have resulted in a pass breakup or interception since 2016, leading all cornerbacks who were targeted at least 150 times over that stretch. He and Byron Jones give Brian Flores one of the league’s best cornerback duos.

Biggest weakness: The Dolphins will once again be heavily reliant on youth along the offensive line. Austin Jackson (37th-highest grade at left tackle), Solomon Kindley (38th at right guard) and Robert Hunt (20th at right tackle) all had shaky stretches as rookies last season. Now the Dolphins could be turning to another rookie at right tackle (Liam Eichenberg) and a new addition at center (Matt Skura) alongside that youth. A lot is riding on those young offensive linemen developing quickly, including Tua Tagovailoa‘s future.

X factor for 2021: Miami has speed to burn following the offseason additions of William Fuller V in free agency and Jaylen Waddle early in the 2021 NFL draft. Those two obviously add a vertical dimension to this offense, but their speed and ability to separate should also provide more open targets over the middle of the field for Tagovailoa. Tagovailoa’s 67.9% completion percentage on throws between the numbers last season ranked 30th among 32 qualifiers ahead of only Drew Lock and Carson Wentz.” — Pro Football Focus

There’s no question that the Dolphins’ successes this season will be defined by Tagovailoa and that the offensive line has the most to prove. But the Dolphins can take comfort in their team-building strategy being rooted in player development; this is what they do. 2019 rookies Christian Wilkins, Andrew Van Ginkel and Myles Gaskin all took big steps forward in 2020; now imagine if the team gets the same success from Tagovailoa, Jackson, Hunt and Kindley on offense (plus Raekwon Davis and Noah Igbinoghene on defense). If that materializes, 22nd overall will be too low on the totem pole for Miami’s roster.

And so the ball is in the young Dolphins’ court. The perception of their roster will be closely tied to the improvements from young players in 2021.