The 2026 Miami Dolphins have one chance to avoid a fatal mistake that doomed the last rebuild
The 2026 Miami Dolphins will have a chance to avoid one of the fatal pitfalls of their last rebuild.
The Miami Dolphins are at square one. It’s a wholesale reset in South Florida and, as the team’s first camp opens this week, it’s worth looking back to history for what can be different this time around. The extreme pivot of 2026 has drawn some parallels to 2019, when the Dolphins shredded the system and started over.
Yet amid the parallels, there’s one critical factor that could separate this rebuild from the last one. The 2026 Dolphins, led by coach Jeff Hafley, appear better positioned to avoid what ended up being a fatal shortcoming of the last reset — even if it took years to manifest in what ultimately fell apart for Miami.
The 2026 Miami Dolphins must avoid coaching churn that helped sink 2019 build
Wind the clock back to 2019. Mike Tannenbaum was reassigned from atop the football operations hierarchy. Chris Grier was given full control as general manager, and Miami hired former New England Patriots assistant Brian Flores as head coach. On paper, it was a clean slate. In practice, the cracks showed almost immediately. By the end of Flores’s first season, the coaching staff had already fractured in several places. A key offensive assistant, Jim Caldwell, dropped out before the season even started. It was referenced to be a non-disclosed health issue — but he left the team for good in January of 2020.
Defensive coordinator Patrick Graham took a lateral move to leave Miami after one year, too. Graham went from Miami to New York to serve as the defensive coordinator of the Giants. And then there was the offensive coordinator situation.
Chad O’Shea followed Flores to Miami in 2019 to serve as the play-caller and was one-and-done. Chan Gailey went on to take his place for 2020 and was out after just one season, too. The early chapters of that regime were defined by instability, and it became the first real signal that the foundation underneath was shaky. As you may expect, player development lacked consistency. The Dolphins spent years chasing different offensive identities. By the time they found it under Mike McDaniel? The peak of the roster was passing them by and their winning window was cut short.
The 2026 Dolphins coaching staff has a legitimate chance to be different
Bobby Slowik takes the title of offensive coordinator with his stock at a low point after two seasons in Houston. He’s gifted, but the league wasn’t exactly lining up to hand him a head coaching interview before he arrived in Miami last offseason. Even with a successful season, it’s hard to envision Slowik getting head coach consideration next winter. That reality works in Miami’s favor. It means the Dolphins have a real shot at keeping their coaching infrastructure intact while the roster takes shape around the young players added through this spring’s draft haul.
That is, of course, assuming the coaching performance is one that warrants the coaches returning.
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