The Dolphins are staying the course after a blowout loss in Cleveland — and sending players a message they shouldn’t

What does it say to those who will be left over after this season is, mercifully, over?

Kyle Crabbs — NFL National Writer

Oct 20, 2025 12:07 PM EDT

The Miami Dolphins are standing firm, at least according to the most recent reports this morning from NFL insider Ian Rapoport. Rapoport, mid-morning after the dust had settled from Miami’s 31-6 drubbing at the hands of the Cleveland Browns, indicated this morning that there are “no changes are expected at this time” with the Dolphins.

Chris Grier, Mike McDaniel, and the Dolphins will apparently just keep on rolling, plodding their way through a disaster of a season in which the players continue to preach the same messages they’ve been regurgitating since the summer.

The decision by team owner Stephen Ross to not make any changes is his to make. But the message it sends the rest of the organization, particularly the players who will be here beyond whatever timeline is required to make a change, is something that needs to be considered.

The Dolphins organization is sending the wrong message to their players

The Dolphins have, sadly, been here before. Miami was 1-7 in 2021. They were 2-6 in 2024. And somehow, those seasons finished 9-8 (with a fired Brian Flores) and 8-9 (with a fired up Tyreek Hill) respectively. So perhaps this year’s 1-6 start doesn’t necessarily feel as dire as it should to Ross. And leftover players from 2021, such as Tua Tagovailoa and Jaelan Phillips, likely have a good perspective that’s reasonable and healthy about what can happen throughout a marathon of a season.

But remember what happened at the end of that season? A shoe fell. Someone lost a job — Brian Flores, to be exact. And Miami’s season last year started on a similar script, only for Jalen Ramsey to be the primary shoe to fall. It took until July to be done. Tyreek Hill, who was just as problematic and even more publicly visible with his issues, was allowed to return.

The longer this goes, especially in a second consecutive season in which all of the power players in the organization have been allowed to ride out the storm and return for another go, what does it say to players? That performance is relative and that expectations are fluid. That the consequences of not fulfilling your obligations are simply a whisper in the wind, not something to ensure you’re putting your foot on the gas each week.

This isn’t about getting better and saving your season. We feel vastly beyond that point. It’s about the accountability in the building to perform or understand that there are consequences for it. It’s about assessing the players for the future. Who are the right pieces to retain? Filing out the same group under the same leadership, with the same messaging and expecting different results is simply bonking your head against the brick wall over and over again.

Miami’s expectations this year were to compete. They’ve toggled back in forth each week between competing for the most heartbreaking way to lose and not being competitive at all. Sunday against the Browns was the latest example of the latter.

Even if Stephen Ross wanted to allow this process to play itself out, he could, at the very least, make his presence felt in this season to apply some pressure from the top. Meddling owners are no good. Oblivious ones are even worse. The time has come for Ross, who has been guilty of the former in the early years of his ownership, to prove he’s now not the latter.

Or else run the risk of everyone involved continuing to receive the positive reinforcement that it’s okay to fall short on expectations. That’s the kind of stench you’ll have a hard time getting rid of. And that’s what they’re risking the longer they allow this season to go on uninterrupted by change.

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