2016 Miami Dolphins Preview
2015 Record: 6-10
2016-17 AFC East Division Odds: +750
2017 AFC Championship Odds: +3,000
2017 Super Bowl Odds: +6,000
The Miami Dolphins will look to climb out of the NFL dog house once the 2016 season kicks off. They have been stuck in the professional sporting equivalent of purgatory, the middle, over the last seven years, winning between six and eight games every season, never doing enough to make their first playoff appearance since 2008.
This, naturally, has left them to be a mercurial play at the sportsbooks. That’s always the case with borderline .500 squads—and it stands to be the case once again with the Dolphins in 2016.
Last season, en route to winning six games, the Dolphins ranked 27th in points scored per game and 19th in points allowed per game. Those standings figure to plummet amid a roster-ravaging offseason that saw them lose a ton of free agents and jump start an extensive rebuilding project that, quite frankly, was a long time coming.
Wide receiver Rishard Matthews (Tennessee Titans), running back Lamar Miller (Houston Texans), defensive end Olivier Vernon (New York Giants) and defensive end Derrick Shelby (Atlanta Falcons) all left in search of greener pastures…and bigger wallets. And the Dolphins did little to replace them. They signed a pair of placeholders at defensive end, in Mario Williams (Buffalo Bills) and Jason Jones (Detroit Lions), in addition to taking a flier on free-agent safety Isa Abdul-Quddus (Detroit Lions).
Count on their defense being equal to last season’s squad at best—unless, for some reason, rookie cornerback Xavien Howard, out of Baylor, contends for Defensive Rookie of the Year.
And you shouldn’t expect too much more out of the offense. Ryan Tannenhill can still be a premier quarterback when he’s healthy and given weapons, but the Dolphins are undergoing a thorough reset. He is surrounded by prospects more than he is proven players.
First-round pick Laremy Tunsil, an offensive tackle out of Mississippi, should help drive down Tannenhill’s sack percentage, which has eclipsed seven in each of the last three seasons. But the flamethrower under center still wants for consistent offensive weapons.
The running back position in particular remains in lurch after the departure of Miller. Jay Ajayi and rookie Kenyan Drake out of Alabama, both of whom are unproven commodities, will absorb a lion’s share of the carries. That puts exponentially more pressure on Tannenhill’s arm. And while that’s not too big of a problem, because Tannenhill’s interception percentage has dipped considerably since his sophomore season, it does render Miami’s offense rather one dimensional.
Tannenhill will have to develop above-board connections with tight end Jordan Cameron and wide receivers Jarvis Landry, Kenny Stills and DaVante Parker to ensure the Dolphins won’t once again rank in the bottom five of scoring. And, again, he has the arm to do just that. He just needs to be more consistent; his completion percentage dropped by nearly five points between 2015 and 2016, a regression that had as much to do with his decision-making as it did with a fluid, if lackluster, supporting cast.
Though this should go without saying by now, the Dolphins are not a team to bet on liberally in the futures department. Their division odds are unimpressive (+750) for a team that won just six games last season, and there’s too big a gap between them and the AFC’s contenders to view them as legitimate conference championship or Super Bowl plays.
Of course, their AFC (+3000) and Super Bowl (+6000) odds are enticing enough for you to lay down low-end bets. We’re talking just a few dollars—throwaway money. This way, if the Dolphins are shockingly good, you’ll capitalize on their unforeseen uprising without breaking your bank should they flop.
In the meantime, use them as situational single-game bets. Play the matchups. The Dolphins should improve on the offensive side while treading water on defense, which makes them an intriguing over play, as well as a good spread or moneyline bet when facing cruddy defensive teams that are, at most, mediocre on the offensive end.
Have a look at who the Miami Dolphins play next, scan their entire schedule, find out the best betting lines for every Dolphins game and heed some tips on how to make more money from your Dolphins bets.
Odds To Win AFC East
New England Patriots: -210
Buffalo Bills: +525
New York Jets: +525
Miami Dolphins:+800
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