The best and worst, winners and losers, in South Florida sports in 2022
2022 was such a wild year in South Florida sports that any of the seven biggest stories would be significant enough to rank first in a quieter year. Recapping the best and worst:
BIGGEST STORIES
1. For multiple reasons, it’s Tua Tagovailoa, who blossomed from an average quarterback to one who ended the 2022 calendar year leading the league in passer rating, but now must navigate the concerns of multiple head injuries sustained this season.
2. Dolphins trading for Pro Bowl receiver Tyreek Hill.
3. Dolphins firing Brian Flores and hiring Mike McDaniel to replace him.
4. Flores filing a lawsuit accusing the Dolphins of pressuring him to lose games, and the NFL later fining the Dolphins and taking away a 2023 first-round pick after proving impermissible contact with Tom Brady (twice) and Sean Payton.
5. Heat making the Eastern Conference finals but falling one game short of the NBA Finals.
6. UM’s football team underachieving (5-7) in Mario Cristobal’s first season as coach, but then signing a top five recruiting class.
7. UM basketball team making the Elite Eight.
8. Panthers trading their leading scorer (Jonathan Huberdeau) and MacKenzie Weegar, in a megadeal deal for Matthew Tkachuk.
9. Marlins’ pitcher Sandy Alcantara becoming the 15th unanimous winner of National League Cy Young award.
10. Panthers exiting playoffs meekly against Tampa, then hiring Paul Maurice as coach but struggling through three months of the season.
11. Marlins (69-93) losing 90 games for the fourth consecutive 162-game season, and Don Mattingly stepping aside as manager, with Skip Schumaker replacing him.
12. Inter Miami rallying from a poor start to make the playoffs, then exiting quickly.
BIGGEST OUTRAGE
1. Marlins not spending a dime in first seven weeks of free agency after a 69-93 season.
2. Dolphins owner Stephen Ross costing his team a first-round pick by tampering with Brady and Payton.
3. UM moving from the scheme that produced its best offensive numbers in a decade.
BEST PERSONNEL MOVES
1. Dolphins trading five draft picks for Hill, the best receiver in their history.
2. Dolphins signing Terron Armstead, their best left tackle this century.
3. Dolphins hiring McDaniel, who maximized Tagovailoa, at least until recently.
4. UM snagging two of the nation’s top three offensive tackles in their best recruiting class in at least 14 years.
5. Dolphins signing guard Connor Williams and converting him to center, where he became one of the league’s best.
6. UM basketball signing transfer Charlie Moore and Jordan Miller, who helped fuel a run to the Elite Eight, and then adding Norchad Omier and Nijel Pack before this season.
BEST UNDER-THE-RADAR PERSONNEL MOVES
1. Dolphins signing undrafted cornerback Kader Kohou, who earned a starting job in Byron Jones’ absence and has a very good 84.4 passer rating in his coverage area.
2. Dolphins adding September ‘street free agent’ Brandon Shell, who allowed two sacks in nine starts at right tackle.
3. UM affiliating with John Ruiz, the billionaire benefactor who has helped them be competitive in the NIL market.
4. Marlins trading two minor-leaguers to Baltimore for Tanner Scott, who had 20 saves and struck out 90 in 63 innings.
5. Panthers adding helpful defenseman Josh Mahura off waivers.
WORST DECISIONS
1. Marlins failing to improve their offense before last season; none of moves — Avisail Garcia, Jorge Soler, Jacob Stallings, Joey Wendle — helped the offense, though Stallings’ defense and handling of the pitching staff were positives.
2. Heat sticking with the same injury-plagued team instead of making an aggressive bid for Donovan Mitchell or finding other avenues to improve.
3. UM moving from a spread offense without having the personnel to be a running, line-of-scrimmage-dominating team.
4. Panthers’ general manager Bill Zito hiring Paul Maurice as coach. Team has underachieved since Maurice took over.
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENTS
1. Cristobal’s first season — from the offense underachieving, to the home losses to Duke and Middle Tennessee, to the prime-time drubbing by FSU.
2. Panthers looked punchless against Tampa Bay in the playoffs, then finishing this calendar year with a record around .500.
3. Dolphins going 0-4, and Tagovailoa struggling, and again entering concussion protocol, after the promise of a 8-3 start.
4. Trevor Rogers. The Marlins lefty regressed from one of the league’s best young pitchers to eminently hittable (5.47 ERA in 23 starts).
5. Garcia and Soler. The free agent pickups hit .224 and .207, combined to drive in 69 runs and missed substantial time with injuries.
6. Dolphins’ defensive backfield health. Cornerback Byron Jones, expected by doctors to return in July from March leg surgery, never played. And Brandon Jones and Nik Needham sustained season-ending injuries.
7. The Marlins’ young position prospects. Except for Jazz Chisholm Jr. and (at times) Bryan De La Cruz, none of them — not JJ Bleday, Peyton Burdick, Jesus Sanchez and jettisoned Lewin Diaz — could consistently hit big-league pitching.
8. The work of UM’s coordinators; neither Josh Gattis nor Kevin Steele was seemingly able to maximize the talent of his players.
9. Emmanuel Ogbah. Signed a $65 million contract, then produced one sack in half a season before a season-ending triceps injury.
10. UM’s quarterbacks, aside from Jacurri Brown. Neither Tyler Van Dyke nor Jake Garcia came close to expectations, and Van Dyke — who tried to play through a shoulder injury — was done no favors by the coaching staff.
11. Heat’s health problems, which left Kyle Lowry a shell of himself in the playoffs and sidelined Tyler Herro for part of the Eastern Conference finals. And then Victor Oladipo and Omer Yurtseven were lost for weeks to start this season.
12. Xavien Howard and Bradley Chubb not playing at close to their Pro Bowl levels for the Dolphins this season.
13. Chase Edmonds. The Dolphins’ first free agent signing averaged just 2.8 per carry before being dealt to Denver.
14. Panthers goaltending was disappointing during this poor start to 2022-23.
15. Dolphins road defense. The worst, statistically, in the league.
MOST PERPLEXING
1. Heat going from the league’s best three-point shooting team last season to one of the seven worst this season.
2. Heat losing home games to the league’s worst teams — Detroit and San Antonio.
3. Dolphins abandoning the run late in the Bills game after averaging 7.5 yards per carry.
MOST IMPROVED
1. Tagovailoa, who has raised his passer rating by 15 points from last season despite his December slump.
2. Marlins left-hander Jesus Luzardo, who lowered his ERA from 6.44 in 12 Marlins starts in 2021 to 3.32 in 18 in 2022.
3. Dolphins receiver Jaylen Waddle, who raised his per-reception average from 9.8 last season to a league high 18.8 this season.
4. Marlins right-hander Edward Cabrera, who lowered his ERA from 5.81 in seven starts in 2021 to 3.01 in 14 last season.
5. Panthers teammates Gustav Forsling, who has become a reliable defenseman with an offensive game (22 points in first 34 games), and Eetu Luostarinen (18 points in first 34 games).
6. Heat wing Max Strus (who improved dramatically last season but regressed with his shooting this season) and Haywood Highsmith, who has gone from journeyman to top five in the league in defensive field goal percentage against.
7. Marlins’ left-hander Braxton Garrett, who went from a 5.03 in seven starts in 2021 to a 3.58 ERA in 17 starts in 2022.
BEST PLAYERS
1. Alcantara (because of the Cy Young), Hill (one of NFL’s top two receivers statistically this season) and Butler (because of his magnificent playoff run.)
4. Matthew Tkachuck. Not his fault Panthers have regressed.
5. Tagovailoa. A reflection of his sterling play in winning the first eight games that he started and finished this season.
6. (tie) Aleksander Barkov and Bam Adebayo.
8. Gonzalo Higuan, whose 16 goals in 28 games helped lead Inter Miami to the playoffs.
9. Armstead. Just one sack allowed all season and the offensive line was infinitely better when he played.
10. (tie) Dolphins’ Waddle (leads league in yards per catch) and UM safety Kam Kinchens, whose six interceptions led the nation.
BEST COACHING JOB
1. UM basketball’s Jim Larranaga. For last year’s Elite 8 run and 12-1 start this season.
2. Heat’s Erik Spoelstra, for guiding last season’s team to within a game of the NBA Finals.
3. McDaniel, for extracting the most out of Tagovailoa.
BIGGEST SURPRISES
1. Tagovailoa’s enormous improvement, then December problems.
2. UM losing at home to Middle Tennessee, then losing to Duke.
3. Panthers trading Huberdeau.
4. UM’s Elite Eight basketball run.
5. UM’s Van Dyke struggling in a year when he was expected to compete for the Heisman Trophy.
6. Kohou emerging as a Dolphins starting cornerback.
This story was originally published December 28, 2022 at 4:05 PM.
