The official (as it can get) Miami Dolphins 2010s All-Decade team
Every 10 years the NFL announces it’s all-decade team and the 2010 All-Decade team was announced April 6.
The way the team is selected is via a vote of the 48 Pro Football Hall of Fame selectors. So, as the Miami representative on that panel, I was privileged to vote for that NFL All-Decade team.
There is no official Miami Dolphins 2010 All-Decade team. So I asked the Miami Pro Football Hall of Fame selector (me) to vote on that team as well. After much research and debate between me and himself, the vote is in.
Here is the Miami Dolphins 2010s All-Decade team:
OFFENSE
QB: Ryan Tannehill. Comment: He never led the Dolphins into the playoffs in his seven seasons, although he put the team at that doorstep in 2016 before he blew out his left knee. Tannehill was a solid player, especially considering he never got a great offensive line in front of him and coaches such as Joe Philbin and Bill Lazor lost faith and failed him. Be that as it may, he also had people that put their careers on the line for him, and they were not rewarded either.
RB: Lamar Miller. Comment: This was a tough one because Dolphins running backs during the decade generally disappeared as quickly as they burst onto the picture. Miller was steady for three seasons, gaining 2,680 yards and averaging 4.5 yards per carry. Miller could also be dynamic. Yes, there were a lot of 4 yard runs. But there were also the 85-yard touchdown run, the 49-yard run and the 97-yard touchdown run. The only reason Miller’s Miami run ended is because the Houston Texans paid him in free agency.
WR: Jarvis Landry. Comment: Before the 2014 draft, then Miami GM Dennis Hickey kept hearing how slow Landry had run at the Indianapolis Combine. Landry had run a 4.7 and Hickey loved it because he knew other teams would drop Landry on their draft board, while he didn’t let it affect his grade based on the tape. Hickey picked Landry in the second round and all Landry did was catch 400 passes for 4,038 yards and 22 TDs in four season with Miami.
WR: Brandon Marshall. Comment: It was the spring of 2012 when I was sitting in the Dolphins lunch room and Marshall walks in fresh from his Pro Bowl MVP performance. I told him if he could only get his mind right, he could own this town. Little did I know the Dolphins were about to draft a new QB in seven weeks and that would mean the end for Marshall because the team didn’t want him yelling at the new quarterback like he yelled at Chad Henne. Anyway, Marshall played 30 games for Miami, catching 167 passes for 2,228 yards with nine TDs.
WR: Brian Hartline. Comment: Some people forget Hartline delivered consecutive 1,000-yard seasons in 2012 and ‘13. I haven’t forgotten. He was a smart receiver, and he usually caught the ball when it was thrown to him. His speed, by the way, was something that often surprised defensive backs. Hartline averaged 14.2 yards per catch during his six seasons with Miami.
TE: Anthony Fasano. Comment: He was a Bill Parcells favorite. When Ryan Tannehill was drafted in 2012, it was Fasano who worked to get him accepted among his teammates that year. That was his off-field contribution that year, and it shouldn’t be dismissed because Tannehill eventually had some acceptance issues after Fasano left. On the field, Fasano was tough, smart, an excellent blocker and technician. Was he Gronk in the passing game? No. But he was solid.
LT: Laremy Tunsil. Comment: This is typical of the Dolphins decade in that Tunsil fell into the team’s lap during a 2016 draft day drop. And despite this great luck, the Dolphins never maximized Tunsil. He played left guard his first year. He learned at left tackle his second year. He was good his third year. And days before his fourth year, the team traded him for two first-round picks and a second-round pick. And in that year the Dolphins traded Tunsil, he became a Pro Bowl player for the first time.
LG: Richie Incognito. Comment: The Dolphins brought Incognito to town on a prove-it contract in 2009 and paid him the next year. That was controversial even then, but Parcells told me Incognito worked “like a plow horse” at getting better every day. And he was good. He wasn’t the most talented but he never quit and he was stronger than a concrete block Yes, the 2013 bullying scandal spelled his end, but history has been kinder to him than most of the other people involved in that saga, including the alleged victim Jonathan Martin.
C: Mike Pouncey. Comment: Pouncey was usually the best player the Dolphins had on their offensive line, starting in 2011, and he was always the unit’s leader. Whatever he said went. My favorite memory of Pouncey was a game in 2015 when there was a screen, I think, completed and after breaking a tackle, the receiver looked like he might turn a routine throw into a big play, except he needed one more block. After blocking at the line of scrimmage, and on the second level, Pouncey hustled downfield and delivered the final block that got the receiver in the end zone. Think about what it takes to do that.
RG: Jermon Bushrod. Comment: He only started 26 games at the position for the Dolphins in 2016 and ‘17. That’s far fewer than John Jerry started earlier in the decade. But Jerry was never actually good in Miami while Bushrod, who was supposed to be a stop-gap player moving from left tackle, showed he still had the athletic skills and agility to play the position on a playoff team.
RT: Ja’Wuan James. Comment: He was not as productive as everyone hoped his first two years because of injuries. But from 2016-18, he was a solid pass blocker who also usually tried hard as a run blocker.
DEFENSE
DE: Cameron Wake. Comment: Who else? Waked played nine years for the Dolphins in the 2010s and collected 92 sacks in 125 starts. He started his career as a 3-4 outside linebacker and converted to a 4-3 defensive end with ease. Who will ever forget the walk off safety on a sack of Andy Dalton in 2013? Nobody.
DT: Ndamukong Suh. Comment: So much talent. So many snaps. Suh was an enigma with the Dolphins in that he usually played well for his position, either because he was making plays or eating up blockers to allow teammates to make plays. His problem was he only collected 15.5 sacks in three seasons with the Dolphins, which wasn’t as good as his output in Detroit and didn’t live up to the expectations of his quarterback worthy salary. Still, a smart, tough player.
DT: Randy Starks. Comment: My favorite Randy Starks moment came in the 2013 season-opener in which he was not allowed to start. And coming off the bench Starks collected a sack on his first or second play and while still on his knees following that sack, he shot a one-finger salute to the Dolphins bench in general and, my guess is, Joe Philbin in particular for not starting him. Starks played seven seasons with the Dolphins, including five in the 2010s. He collected 30.5 sacks during his time with Miami and showed versatility in playing as a 3-4 DE as well as a 4-3 DT.
DE: Olivier Vernon. Comment: So he was never dynamic. But Vernon was consistently productive in Miami, collecting 29 sacks and 43 tackles for loss during his four seasons with the Dolphins. After Vernon left in 2016, the Dolphins went on a search to find a complimentary pass rusher to Wake and never really found one through the time Wake played with the team.
LB: Kiko Alonso: Comment: His first season in Miami in 2016 was his best season. He played middle linebacker that year and he had two interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown at then-San Diego. The next two years, Alonso moved outside and was often trying to overcome the affects of injuries or trying to cover for out-of-position teammates, or was sometimes out of position himself. Still, he was in the team’s plans under new coach Brian Flores until he balked at plans to be in and out of the lineup and at the idea of running to the Takes-No-Talent wall.
LB: Karlos Dansby. Comment: I would say this should have been a better experience but for whatever reasons, it was limited to just above average play over a three-season span. Dansby came to the Dolphins in 2010 as a playmaker but rarely lived up to those expectations in Miami. He collected a bunch of tackles. But rarely did he make things happen. And he allowed himself to get 25 pounds overweight one year. When he also gained a reputation for having a mind of his own, Joe Philbin wanted him gone. After he left Dansby returned to being a playmaker for a couple of years.
LB: Koa Misi. Comment: Tony Sparano loved him because of his toughness and discipline. Joe Philbin loved him because he was coachable and physical. Adam Gase loved him for those same reasons. The problem is Koa Misi was always seemingly injured. His durability, which forced him to miss 24 games in seven seasons, was his downfall.
CB: Brent Grimes. Comment: Remember that iconic Odell Beckham Jr. one-handed grab on prime time his rookie year? Well, one week before that, Brent Grimes had an interception in the end zone that resembled that very play -- except he did it when the quarterback was trying to throw the pass to another guy. Grimes came to Miami on a prove-it deal in 2013 and was Miami’s best corner for three seasons. His time ended here because his wife, who was once arrested outside the stadium before a game, had a habit of publicly criticizing starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill. The new coaching staff that took over in 2016 wasn’t going to tolerate that kind of craziness in the locker room.
CB: Xavien Howard. Comment: He joined the team in 2016 and he’s struggled to stay on the field during his time -- playing 16 games only in the 2017 season. But Howard’s combined 11 interceptions in 2017-18 shows he’s got great talent when he overcomes durability issues.
SS: Reshad Jones. Comment: I remember Tony Sparano texting me in the spring of 2011, promising Jones would be the biggest surprise in the coming training camp. The coach expected a breakout season from Jones in his second season and the player delivered, starting 12 games with 67 tackles, including two for loss, an interception, and two sacks. Jones went on to make the Pro Bowl a couple of times while starting 113 games in the 2010s.
FS: Chris Clemons. Comment: The knock on Clemons is he rarely made big plays at a time when Ed Reed and others were on Sunday night SportsCenter every weekend. Clemons collected only four interceptions in his five seasons with the Dolphins. But do you know why he was with the Dolphins five seasons and went on to two more years in Arizona? Because he rarely made coverage mistakes. He rarely took bad angles. He protected the back end like it was his bank account.
SPECIALISTS
Punter: Brandon Fields. Comment: He made the Pro Bowl only once, in 2013, but was seemingly always among the league’s leaders in net and gross punting average. It was something of a surprise when he was replaced in 2015, but that was the right call. He only played two more games with New Orleans after being cut by Miami.
Kicker: Dan Carpenter. Comment: He was the team’s leading scorer in 2010-2012 and never missed an extra point during that time, albeit before PATs were moved back. After the Dolphins got rid of Carpenter in 2013 he went on to four productive years in Buffalo while the Dolphins shuffled through four different kickers.
LS: John Denney. Comment: He’s one of the team’s all-timers so, of course, he’s on the 2010s All-Decade team. Denney was technically sound and always kept in great shape -- often in better shape than some of his younger teammates. And by the end, all of his teammates were younger. And so were some of his coaches.
This story was originally published April 30, 2020 at 3:06 AM.
