‘Every day counts:’ How the Dolphins are laying the foundation for a turnaround

The next few weeks should be sleepy ones in the NFL.

Free agency is winding down. Most teams aren’t going to make splash moves until after the draft.

Last week’s annual meeting produced a blizzard of news around the league, but what’s left to be said that wasn’t said then? (Aside from Robert Kraft answering questions about what went on in a Jupiter massage parlor, of course.)

But just because it’s quiet time doesn’t mean it’s unimportant time.

The Dolphins are trying to break out of a two-decade rut. They believe first-year coach Brian Flores is the guy who can do it.

And on Monday, the beginning of the team’s offseason conditioning program, Flores had his first opportunity to stand in front of his team and begin enacting change.

“It was exciting,” Flores told the team’s in-house video department. “I was fired up about it, quite honestly. Like I’ve said in the past, I’m fortunate and it’s humbling to have this opportunity. I don’t take it for granted. It was great to get up in front of the group and talk about my vision for this team, this program and this phase.”

For now, Flores and his coaching staff cannot do much with the players, who are not even required to attend, for a while. The first two weeks are limited to strength and conditioning activities.

So what significant can the Dolphins get accomplished?

“I think a lot can get accomplished,” Flores said. “I think every day counts. That’s what we talked about [Monday]. Everything you do — strength training, conditioning, nutrition, getting on a routine — it’s all important.”

Here’s why: Winning habits don’t appear out of thin air. They are built through routine.

Do the players need to learn how to be professionals? Some, certainly.

Which is why Flores told them the standard he expects for note-taking, for film-watching.

Under Adam Gase, the Dolphins were not the most fundamentally sound team. Far from.

The Patriots, meanwhile, were all about each player doing his job. And Flores wants to bring that attention to detail to Miami.

“I talked to them about having a game plan every day and having a structure every day,” Flores added. “I think that resonated with them. I think a lot of them were already on a good routine. Hopefully we can build and build and build. That’s what this is, a time to build individually. That’s really what it is. We’ve got to start with the individual before we can work on the team. I think the understand that. Individually, we want them all to get better and improve in every area now. I think it was a good start.”

He added: “If the foundation’s not right, then the house falls down.”

This story was originally published April 2, 2019 at 12:58 PM.