In Mike McDaniel’s first 2 seasons as the Dolphins head coach, 3 players really made the offense go. They were Tyreek Hill, Raheem Mostert and Jaylen Waddle. Waddle had the worst year of his career, Hill had his least productive season since his rookie year back in 2016 and Mostert averaged 1.5 yards per carry less than any season in his career.
The offense went from their 2023 rankings of 1st in rush yards per play to 28th in 2024. Miami also dropped from 2nd in pass yards per play to 21st and from 2nd in points per game to 22nd. Tight end Jonnu Smith was the most productive for Miami’s passing game in 2024 and has been shipped out and replaced by Darren Waller, who returns from retirement.
QB: Tua Tagovailoa
Tagovailoa had the highest completion rate of his career last year at 72.9% which was up from his previous career-high of 69.3 set the year prior. His yards per completion has dropped by almost 2 full yards each year since Hill came to Miami. In 2022 Tagovailoa averaged 13.7 yards per completion but then it dropped to 11.9 in 2023 and then down to 9.9 last year.
Of Tagovailoa’s 7 INTs interceptions in 2024, 6 of them came in 2 games as he threw 3 vs the Bills and 3 at the Houston. Health has also been an issue as he’s completed 1 season out of 5 in which he’s started more than 13 games.
RB: De’Von Achane
Achane was the best thing about the Dolphins’ offense last season as he had 6 rushing and 6 receiving TDs. He averaged 4.5 yards per carry for 907 yards and led all NFL RBs in receptions (78), receiving yards (592) and tied for the TD lead.
RB: Jaylen Wright
Wright finished 3rd on the team in his rookie year in rushes, behind Achane and Mostert. He totaled 68 rushes for 249 yards (3.7 ypc). While it wasn’t a great year, he did show better in the one game he received his most work with 13 carries going for 86 yards (6.6 ypc). He also had a 12+ yard rush in 4 straight games.
WR: Tyreek Hill
In his first 2 years with the Dolphins, Hill had over 1,700 receiving yards in each season. Last year he didn’t even top 1,000 yards and his yards per reception was down 3.3 yards from the prior year. His receiving yards per game were cut in half from 112 in 2023 to 56 last year. His TDs were cut by more than half from 13 to 6 over that same time.
WR: Jaylen Waddle
Waddle had averaged 6 TDs per year over his first 3 seasons in the NFL. Last year he finished with 2 TDs as his yards per reception fell to 12.8 from 14.1 the year before and 18.1 in his first year with Hill as a teammate in Miami.
WR: Malik Washington
In his rookie season last year, Washington didn’t put up eye-popping numbers but did get better as the season went along. Over the last 4 games on the year, Washington caught 16 passes for 169 yards on 20 targets. Prior to that he had only managed 10 receptions for 54 yards on 16 targets.
WR: Nick Westbrook-Ikhine
Over the last 4 years while he was with the Titans, Westbrook-Ikhine had caught 25-38 passes a year for 370-497 yards. The first 3 of those years he caught 3-4 TDs a season before breaking out last year and catching 8 of his 9 TDs in an 8-game stretch.
TE: Darren Waller
Waller missed 19 of 51 games from 2021-2023 before deciding to retire last year. He’s since come out of retirement and Miami added him from the Giants via trade. Waller had 2 stellar years in 2019 and 2020, before the injuries started to take a toll on him.
BREAKOUT PLAYER: Jaylen Wright
Achane had a solid 4.5 ypc last year but it was actually down 3.3 yards per carry from his rookie season when he was serving as backup to Mostert. Despite playing in 6 less games with 12 less starts and 100 less carries, Achane had 2 more rushing TDs as a rookie and finished with only 100 less rushing yards.
Achane is a high-volume receiving back and Miami will look to keep him healthy and maximize his efficiency by having Wright eat into his rushing total. Mostert’s 85 carries from last year will all go to Wright and Achane will also give up some of his 200+ rush attempts from 2024. Wright finishes with 150+ carries for 600+ yards and 4 rush TDs with 20+ receptions.
BUST: Darren Waller
Waller had some serious concerns in his retirement statement and has a lengthy injury history. He’ll fail to even reach half of Jonnu Smith’s totals from 2024 of 88 / 884 / 8. That will put Waller under 44 / 442 / 4.
SLEEPER: Malik Washington
Washington made the most of Waddle’s missed time towards the end of the season. He’ll become the safety blanket that’s left void after the departure of Smith. Washington hits 50 / 500 / 3.
BOLD PREDICTION: Zach Wilson
Wilson becomes the next Sam Darnold, as a former top-3 pick of the New York Jets that was written off. Tagovailoa will miss time yet again and Wilson will take advantage of the abundance of weapons with Achane, Hill and Waddle in Miami to have a career resurgence.
Wilson finishes with the best statistical season of his career. He’ll finish over 60% completion with over 2,400 yards passing double-digit TDs and single-digit INTs.
