Kelly: Dolphins’ present would benefit from taking a page from the past | Opinion
It was one of those rare days when the Miami Dolphins’ past overlapped with the present, and possibly the franchise’s future.
Dave Wannstedt, the coach who gave Jeff Hafley his first big coaching break, hiring him as a graduate assistant at the University of Pittsburgh in 2006, was in attendance for Tuesday’s start of Miami’s mandatory minicamp. And so were some of his most accomplished players during those playoff-bound seasons in the early 2000’s.
Trace Armstrong, who played six of his 15 NFL seasons in Miami, Louis Olivier, a six-year starter for the Dolphins, and Hall of Fame linebacker Zach Thomas were on the field watching, laughing, reminiscing while the beginning stages of a franchise’s reset was on the field working.
The practice field they were watching was full of rookies and players on minimum salaries, which means they have to earn their keep on a daily basis, and it looked like it.
“Zach Thomas?” Dolphins linebacker Tyrel Dodson said when told Thomas watched Tuesday’s practice, which was highlighted by cornerback JuJu Brents’ one interception. “He was out there? Oh damn….. Is he still here?”
Most of the players on Miami’s roster weren’t even alive when Thomas was in a Dolphins jersey and Wannstedt roamed the sidelines.
This Dolphins team features 25 rookies and 49 players with less than three years of NFL experience, many of whom were signed on one-year deals that pay the NFL minimum.
That means the Dolphins have little to nothing invested in them. But most are here for the opportunity this blank canvas presents.
Based on Hafley’s approach, you keep what you kill, to quote the movie “The Chronicles of Riddick,” and that’s the one positive thing we can take from this season.
The era of entitlement, which has plagued this franchise for at least a decade, has ended.
“Everybody here is working. It’s a bunch of young dudes and a lot of one-year [contract] dudes. When you have a lot of guys like that they are hungry,” center Aaron Brewer said. “They have something to prove, something to earn, and that’s the mentality everyone is walking around with. Put our head down and working, improving themselves.”
Armstrong, a 1989 first-round pick, knows what Chop Robinson’s going through laboring to prove he’s an every down edge-setter.
Oliver, whom the Dolphins selected 25th overall in the first round of the 1989 Draft and started immediately, should be relatable to many of Miami’s 2025 and 2026 draftees, players who will be called on to contribute immediately, possibly filling prominent roles.
And there’s a seamless comparison of Thomas and linebacker Jacob Rodriguez, the Dolphins’ 2026 second-round pick, who shined at Texas Tech, Thomas’ alma mater, winning just about every collegiate award that could go to a defender.
If the Dolphins are lucky Rodriguez’s play will demand he see the field this season. But that’s not a given.
And neither is Hafley’s team being competitive this season.
While the Dolphins didn’t win anything substantial during the Wannstedt years, they did advance to the playoffs twice and possessed a forceful defense, one that was respected, if not feared, in the NFL at the time.
The South Florida fan base might have turned its nose up at the Wannstedt era, but he delivered four consecutive winning seasons, a 42-31 record, and the franchise’s last playoff win in 2000, before getting fired because of a 1-8 start in 2004.
Since his departure, the Dolphins got teased then dumped by Nick Saban, reached rock bottom in Cam Cameron’s dismal 2007 season, went through a massive rebuild in the Bill Parcells era, which was coached by Tony Sparano.
And there were the Joe Philbin, Adam Gase, Brian Flores and Mike McDaniel eras, or errors, none of which had the success of Wannstedt.
It might be offensive to say Wannstedt’s success should be the new standard, but that’s the reality for this franchise, which hasn’t won a playoff game in 25 seasons and counting.
Wannstedt benefitted from Jimmy Johnson’s talent evaluation and player development, which produced stars such as Thomas and fellow Hall of Famer Jason Taylor, Sam Madison, Patrick Surtain, and Chris Chambers and Randy McMichael, the final two drafted by Wannstedt when he ran Miami’s front office after Johnson retired.
Hafley could certainly benefit from the Dolphins adding some difference-makers like Wannstedt had. If things go right in this rebuild, which started with the Dolphins’ purging the roster of veterans via trade or release, ultimately carrying $179 million in dead cap, he will discover and develop some foundational players.
That’s what this season is about, and if things pan out the way Hafley envisions, maybe the Dolphins will quickly get back to producing winning seasons, and playoff victories like they had in the Wannstedt era.
