What offseason changes are in store for the Dolphins?

The Miami Dolphins had an abysmal finish and will need to re-configure their defensive personnel, special teams approach, and offensive play in the red zone.  Surely, changes, must be made in order to make a playoff run in 2015.

First, with rumors swirling around about a potential coaching opening in Philadelphia, it’s highly possible that Head Coach Chip Kelly could be on the move after some discord with the front office.  Stay tuned as this could be a major development and could in fact affect the Dolphins should Kelly request Bill Lazor to join him wherever he goes.  For now, know this, Stephen Ross would have to be really ticked off to trade for Chip Kelly and fire Joe Philbin if it meant keeping Bill Lazor.  Is he? Who knows!

Update: Bill Lazor hasn’t been contacted by any GMs around the NFL, so he’ll certainly be back in Miami for 2015.

With Buffalo and the Jets looking for head coaches, I’d expect Ross to take a wait and see approach and formulate a contingency plan for next season should the Dolphins not succeed in making the playoffs.

Next, the Dolphins have issues defensively and offensively.  Sure the Dolphins didn’t win more than eight games, but I’d factor in the possibility that the offense struggled with red zone TDs in December, the defense made running backs of opposing teams look great, and finally break downs on special teams.

Football is a team game, and surely being able to have all three units playing well, is the common goal.  Surely, quarterback Ryan Tannehill had a career year in touchdowns (27), completions (392), and yards (4,045); it makes sense for the Dolphins to build on this in free agency and in the draft.

However, Mike Wallace and Ryan Tannehill having a negative moment at some point during the Charles Clay touchdown celebration and half time does not bode well for the Dolphins.  The move, of acquiring Wallace in 2013 via free agency was made in part to stretch the field and take advantage of Tannehill’s big arm.

However, it’s been an issue for Tannehill to hit Wallace in stride, on deep passes for two years now.  This season, Bill Lazor found a way to cover up for Ryan Tannehill’s inability to hit Wallace, by making Wallace a possession receiver and red zone option.If the issue keeps on coming up and now it’s become more of a sideshow for Wallace to be defiant, it might be time to trade Wallace for an additional draft pick.  The Dolphins don’t need the distraction of Mike Wallace’s attitude to harm the progress of Ryan Tannehill and in turn harm the Dolphins.  

 Prior to last Sunday, there wasn’t a problem in the eyes of the fans between Tannehill and Wallace.  It looked like Wallace was moving at a healthy pace to earn 1,000 yards and more than 10 touchdowns, now at this juncture, it looks like Wallace could be an unhealthy fungus that is growing in the Dolphins locker room.  It’s going to be a tough call for Joe Philbin and hopefully he makes the decision that’s best for the team in 2015, even if it earns him criticism from the media and fans.  All one has to do is watch film and see that Wallace was the red zone threat this year with NINE of his TEN touchdowns occurring in the red zone.

Lastly, the Dolphins will need to figure out their cap situation.  They can work on a new extension for Ryan Tannehill, if he’s willing and look at signing their free agents such as Samson Satele (he had a decent season playing 16 games), Jason Fox at tackle (until Albert comes back), and try and re-sign Jared Odrick.  Odrick is a puzzling choice to re-sign because he’s going to command so much more money on the open market than what the Dolphins could offer, but for all intents and purposes, he’s much more comfortable playing in Miami with this coaching staff and the fans enjoy cheering him on.  Not to mention he’s a media favorite in Miami as well.  Then again, yelling at Joe Philbin during a game might get most players cut during this coaching regime.

Once again, Stephen Ross went for continuity by keeping Joe Philbin as head coach, now it’s up to Philbin himself to either make changes on his staff, or stand pat since he has only one more year left and depend on GM Dennis Hickey to bring the best players for this team in free agency and in the draft.

For Dolphins fans, hope is not lost, but thinking positively about this team close, is closer than they’ve been in the past 14 seasons.