The Miami Dolphins will live out one of their former head coach’s favorite sayings one last time in 2026
One of Mike McDaniel’s favorite sayings from his final season with the Miami Dolphins will get one more year to shine before (hopefully) fading away.
Former Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel had plenty of sayings. Just one press conference listen and you were probably good to hear two or more of them, too.
One in particular was heard often in 2025 in an effort to normalize what ultimately became one of the things that did Miami in for good under his watch. Roster management. McDaniel, as you may remember, quite frequently spoke about roster turnover in the NFL being about 45% on average — so Miami’s frequent churn was no big deal! As it turned out, it was. But for the 2026 Miami Dolphins, this Mike McDaniel saying will ring true one last time…before hopefully taking a few years off in South Florida.
Just how deep will the Miami Dolphins 2026 roster turnover run?
Just how deep will the changes run in 2026? Out of necessity, it will run even deeper than the last few seasons. As things currently stand, we’re at (at least) 27 players from last September’s initial 53-man roster who are already gone and off the roster. It may end up more, too. That all depends on how the preseason cuts go and training camp this summer. It really is a stunning figure.
This year’s Miami team had to go about it this way. As the Dolphins strip things down and start over while dealing with wave after wave of expiring contracts, the team had little choice but to shop within a modest price point and pick up the pieces as they go.
The last two iterations of the Miami Dolphins found out the hard way that such a severe churn can and does cause problems. When you constantly transplant veterans into your ecosystem, the ability to maintain a cohesive effort becomes increasingly difficult. That is, in part, what ended the last regime’s run. Normalize it all you want — the Dolphins have been at the upper band on roster turnover for three years running.
Here’s a bold prediction for you. The 2027 Miami Dolphins will not face 45-50% roster turnover. Between the 2025 and 2026 rookie classes combined are 21 players deep. That’s nearly the holdover total from 2025 to 2026 alone. Add in some key free agent signings, this roster will stabilize moving forward. That is, in part, why general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan has preached building through the draft. So the team’s floor and culture can be more stable. This group will get there, make no bones about it.
But in the meantime? The Miami Dolphins will live out one of McDaniel’s favorite one-liners from his final year in Miami one last time. The question really is just how few players are back from last year’s team? 25? Fewer? Being back in South Florida this season is shaping up to be a feat all in itself.
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