Kelly: Dolphins franchise must come to terms with the ‘or else’ era it’s in | Opinion
Stop looking for someone to blame as we approach yet another Miami Dolphins reset, rebuilt, franchise restart.
Call it whatever you want, but we must scrap this team because it failed.
It’s not general manager Chris Grier’s fault, even though he was a disappointment at evaluating talent and leading an organization.
It’s not Brian Flores’ or Mike McDaniel’s fault because each produced winning seasons, and McDaniel started out his career with two playoff berths and a pace-setting offense.
It’s not Tua Tagovailoa’s fault, either. He was once a Pro Bowl talent, a quarterback who put together three straight 100 passer-rated seasons and owned an impressive win-loss record before his skills drastically diminished in the second half of 2025.
Call it whatever you want, but this is the way of the sport.
Hire a new coach — usually one that’s the polar opposite of the last coach — and give him four years — if he’s lucky because lately some coaches only get two, if not one — to turn the franchise into a sustained winner.
Let that coach and a general manager build the team in their vision — which hopefully aligns, but sometimes it doesn’t — and pray for health and luck because both are essential for getting to the mountain top.
Unfortunately, the Dolphins haven’t been very fortunate in either department for the past 25 years.
This sport rides a professional athlete until the bodies start breaking down. Maybe you will have a good four- or five-year run, and that’s exactly what happened with Tagovailoa, whose tenure as the Dolphins’ franchise quarterback likely came to an end this week when Miami not only demoted him, but made him the team’s No. 3 quarterback to keep him off the field, avoiding an injury guarantee in his contract.
This is the ugly business of the NFL, as it was when Tagovailoa shook down the organization at the start of training camp in 2024 for a lucrative multiyear extension, which now holds the franchise hostage, and could very well impact team owner Steve Ross’ search for his next leaders.
When the team is forced to compensate the players, it usually does kicking and screaming, and now we see why.
And when that player’s performance doesn’t match his productivity, teams either shake him down, forcing a pay cut, or show the athlete the door.
And that happens to everyone.
Don’t believe me? Just look at the final years of Dan Marino, Jason Taylor and Zach Thomas, and they are Miami’s most recent Hall of Famers.
This is the game we play.
But coaches and executives get the exact same treatment, and that’s the portion of this movie I’m waiting for.
Win, or exit stage left.
That gives McDaniel three games to get three wins, which would deliver Miami a winning record for 2025.
While that’s not the playoffs, it’s also not status quo, which is what Ross clearly stated wouldn’t be acceptable moving forward, and led to Grier being replaced by interim general manager Champ Kelly at midseason.
If McDaniel decides he wants to play those final three games with rookie quarterback Quinn Ewers, a 2025 seventh-round pick who had never thrown a pass in practice to Darren Waller until Thursday, that’s his prerogative.
Just don’t expect any mercy when it’s judgment time.
Professional sports is a cold business, and there’s none more frigid than football, the sport that has the highest injury rate, and coincidentally — or not — contracts that aren’t guaranteed.
These days young quarterbacks such as Ewers get put in the microwave, rushed onto the field before they are ready. But they are still expected to taste like gourmet meals.
And when they don’t, they’re usually thrown on a trash pile until someone dusts them off, rehabs their bruised ego, patiently polishes up their skills and eventually provides a second chance.
Some seize that opportunity, and some don’t. But they’re no different than any other player on an NFL team’s 53-man roster, or practice squad, and any coach in the NFL.
When your moment arrives, capitalize on it, or else.
That’s the business of football, and we’ve reached the point in this Dolphins program where we’re at the “or else” stage.
Let’s not run from it.
We must embrace the “or else” because this franchise needs a scorched-earth restart since we’re now officially entering 26 years without a playoff victory.
There are adults — fathers and mothers now — who have grown up in South Florida never seeing their team win a playoff game. Not one!
Tom Brady’s 18-season dominance over the AFC East, and NFL — if we’re being honest — has plenty to do with that drought since 63% of teams that advance in the playoffs host a game.
But this franchise has had their moments, and squandered them., which has been a common theme.
This final stretch of the season is another one of those moments. It could potentially change the course of the franchise for good, or bad.
Let’s not run from it.
Let’s embrace what’s upon us because change is necessary for growth, and healing. And South Florida should realize its NFL franchise needs plenty of each.
