Long overdue.

Dolphins legendary LB Zach Thomas was elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The 7 time probowl (when probowl was a real thing) and 5 TIME FIRST TEAM ALL PRO, the heart and soul of Miami's defense in the late 90s and early 2000s was elected after waiting 10 years and making the final round 4 times.
Zach was the heart of the defense playing inside LB for 12 years begining in 1996. He was drafted as an undersized 5th round LB by Jimmy Johnson and he made his mark right from day one. He was so good coach Johnson waived free agent LB Jack Del Rio and Thomas would go on to start from day one. He earned AFC defensive rookie of the year in his rookie season and led a defense that was always ranked very high. He finished his carrer with a mind blowing 1734 tackles. So deserving to get into the Hall, Thomas finally made it, he will be enshrined in Canton as a member of the Dolphins this August.

The Miami Dolphins have hired San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel as their new coach, making him the 11th full time and 14th overall coach. McDaniel had worked under 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan for the past 11 seasons and gets his first shot as a head coach after one year as offensive coordinator and 3 years as run game coordinator. McDaniel was credited for his role in developing San Francisco's creative running game and could help the development of WR Jaylen Waddle. The Dolphins struggled offensively this season despite finishing 9-8 and that is probably why they were looking for an offensive minded coach. The Yale-educated McDaniel got his coaching start on Mike Shanahan's staff in Denver in 2005. He worked as an assistant in Houston, Washington, Cleveland and Atlanta. McDaniel then joined Shanahan's staff in San Francisco run game coordinator and took over the offensive coordinator role in 2021.

Dolphins owner Stephen Ross has decided to fire Head Coach Brian Flores despite the 2021 turn around and the fact he delivered 2 consecutive winning seasons for the first time since 2003. In a shocking turn of events Ross decided to fire Flores and somehow retain GM Chris Grier despite the awful but highly invensted O-line and running game. Ross talked about collaboration within the organization and not actual coaching. Flores is a very good coach and he will probably land another head coaching position, maybe even this year. The team did have 3 O-coordinators in 3 years and 2 D-coordinators in Flores' tenure as coach. The possible replacements don't seem better than Flores which makes this decision even more surprising. Ross also said it has nothing to do with Tua and the next coach will decide on the next QB. The Dolphins now begin a search for the 14th coach in Dolphins history.

The Miami Dolphins decided to hire Patriots LB and defensive play caller Brian Flores to lead the Dolphins rebuild as the team's 10th full time and 13th head coach. Flores spent his entire career in New England starting out as a scout in 2004, then an assitant coach on the offensive side an d special teams. He then moved to the defensive side of the ball coaching in the secondary and linebackers. He was the de-facto defensive coordinator in 2018 and led the Patriots defense to the 7th overall ranking in points allowed in 2018. Almost all of the assistant coaches will change in 2019, a rebuild year. The Dolphins hired former Lions and Colts head coach Jim Caldwell as assistant head coach. The Dolphins are expected to have two young first time coordinators in Chad O'shea (offense) and Patrick Graham (defense). O'shea coached the Patriots wide receivers and Graham was the Green bay linebackers coach (before that he coached at New England). Danny Crossman will be the special teams coordinator. Former Dolphins coach Adam Gase is now the head coach of the NT Jets.

The Miami Dolphins decided to hire Broncos and Bears offensive coordinator Adam Gase as the team's next head Coach. Gase becomes the 12 th head coach in team history and the 9th full time head coach. Gase served as the Bears offensive coordinator last year after spending 2013-2014 in the same position in Denver. He is 37 years old becoming the youngest head coach in the leagur and the youngest in Dolphins history (Shula was 40 when he was hired in Miami after serving 7 years as the Colts head coach). Gase was a hot candidate although he has never been a head coach in any level.

Gase is expected to call plays depending on who he names as offensive coordiantor. The Dolphins have hired Bengals secondary coach Vance Joseph as the team's next defensive coordinator. Special team coordinator Darren Rizi is expected to stay although no official word is out yet. Former Dolphins coach Joe Philbin will be offensive line coach in Indianapolis and Dan Campbell is expected to join the Saints staff.

The Miami Dolphins decided to fire head Coach Joe Philbin, the 10th coach in franchise history after yet another loss, this time to the New York Jets. The Dolphins named tight ends coach Dan Campbell the interim head coach and he is going to be the 11th coach in Frnachise history to lead the Dolphins in two weeks time against the Titans. AS for more changes to the coordinator positions that has not been determined yet. The Dolphins are playing poorly on both offense and defense and that's why Campbell was named interim head coach and not one of the coordinators. Campbell, a former TE, is 39 and the youngest active head coach in the NFL.

Campbell is in his 6th year with the Dolphins first hired during the Sparano coaching staff. He stayed when Philbin arrived and is considered one of the good young coaches on the team. He plyed for 11 years with the Giants, Cowboys, Lions and Saints finishing with 91 catches for 934 yards and 11 TDs. He also won a superbowl ring while on the Saints injured reserve list.

The Miami Dolphins decided to name Packers Offensive coordinator Joe Philbin as the next Head Coach of the Miami Dolphins. He will become the team's 10th head coach (8th full time head coach).

Philbin has been the offensive coordiator in Green Bay since 2007. Philbin is 50 years old and he has 28 years of coaching experience, 19 years in college and the last 9 in Green bay working his way up from assistant OL coach to TE coach to offensive coordinator. Philbin's son died 2 weeks ago but Philbin still coached in Green bay's divisional playoff loss to the GIants last week.

The Miami Dolphins announced the hiring Tony Sparano as the 8th head coach in franchise history and the 5th in the last 5 years. The deal is beleived to be for 4 years at around 11 million dollars. Sparano was with the Cowboys the last 5 years, 4 of them coaching under Bill Parcells. He has also worked with Ireland the past 5 years in Dallas. He was the play caller in Parcells' final year, 2006 and this past year he was named assitant head coach and he was also in charge for the O-line.

The two and a half week search is over. The Dolphins signed Malcolm "Cam" Cameron to a 4 year deal making Cameron the seventh head coach in Dolphin history. Cameron was interviewd for hours by Dolphins top officials including owner Wayne Huizenga. Cameron served as the San Diego Chargers' offensive coordinator the past 5 years. The Chargers offense ranked number one in points scored and 4th in yards. He is also the first offensive minded the Dolphins have ever hired. All previous 6 head coaches came from a defensive background. Cameron worked with star Chargers QB Drew Brees, QB Philip Rivers, TE Antonio Gates and 2006 MVP RB Ladanian Tomlinson. The Dolphins are expected to retain defensive coordinator Dom Capers and GM Randy Muller that will now be the man in charge of personnel. Cameron will call the plays on gameday.

An AFC best six Dolphins were selected to play in the pro bowl. DE Jason Taylor, a strong candidate for defensive player of the year honor was selected to his second career pro bowl. Taylor has an NFL best 17 sacks this season. DT Tim Bowens and S Brock Marion were also selected to their second pro bowl. CB Patrick Surtain was selected to his first pro bowl. Surtain leads the team (shares NFL lead) with a career best 6 INTs this season. Surtain also became only the second Dolphin CB ever to make the pro bowl, the first being Sam Madison (1999-2001). Madison was selected as an alternate along with Olindo Mare, Tommy Hendricks, Randy McMichael and Jamie Nails. The sixth Dolphin selected joining the 5 defensive players is RB Ricky Williams. Williams is the first Dolphin RB since 1982 (Andra Franklin) to be elected to play in the pro bowl, and the first in a non-strike season since 1978 (Delvin Williams).

The Dolphins completed one of the biggest trades in franchise history. The Dolphins will get star RB Ricky Williams from the New Orleans Saints and exchange 4th round picks for Miami's first round choice this year and a conditional 3rd round pick that could turn to be a 2nd rounder if Williams rushes for 1,200 yards and a 1st rounder if Williams cracks the 1,500 yard mark. Williams was the 5th overall pick in 1999 and the Saints traded their entire draft to land him.
Williams finished college as the NCAA all time leading rusher. He rushed for more than 1,200 yards last year to go with 60 receptions for more than 500 yards. He has averaged over 1,000 per season in his 3 seasons in the NFL even though he was injured for a few games. He has back to back 1,000 yard seasons.
Williams is, by far, the best RB the Dolphins had since Larry Csonka played for the Dolphins in the 1970s.

The Dolphins re-signed S Brock Marion to a 5 year deal worth about 10 million dollars. Marion led the team with 5 INTs last year (returning 2 for TDs) and was third on the team with 97 tackles. Marion received some interest from other teams and was scheduled to visit Detroit. Marion, a 2000 pro bowl selection, has 10 INTs in the last 2 seasons has indicated he wants to stay in Miami and finish his career as a Dolphin. Marion is the leader of the secondary which was ranked number 1 last season in pass defense.
The Dolphins also signed former Raven T Leon Searcy. Searcy will be moved to guard and he will compete with Todd Perry for the RG starting position. The 10 year veteran has been a pro bowl performer as a RT 2 years ago but injuries have prevented him for playing since.
DT Chester was signed away from the Carolina Panthers. He is supposed to start at DT with Darryl Gardener moving outside to play DE for DE Kenny Mixon.
S Brian Walker was lost to the Detroit Lions and DE Mixon signed with the Minnesota Vikings (5 year 17 million deal).

The Miami Dolphins announced the signing of Norv Turner as their new Assistant head coach and Offensive Coordinator. Turner served as Washingtom Redskins head coach for almost 7 years (49-59-1). Turner was the O-Coordiantor last year with the Dan Diego Chargers. He resigned his post after the Chargers named Marty Schottenheimer as their new head coach. Turner was also a candidate for the Buccs head coaching vacancy. Turner worked with Wannstedt in Dallas when both were coordiantors under former Dolphins head coach Jimmy Johnson establishing their superbowl teams. Turner, considered by many a great offensive coach, signed a 3 year deal for an undisclosed amount. He can opt out of the contract for a head coaching job elsewhere, just like former O-coordinator Chan Gailey did when he became head coach of Georgia Tech.

Daryl Gardener is out for the season and he will undergo back surgery this week. Gardener is having problems with his back the last couple of years and he missed 6 weeks last year with back problems. He is expected to be replaced in the starting lineup by Jermaine Haley.

The Dolphins lost to the Green bay Packers 17-12 in their 4th pre-season game. Miami's starters played through the 3rd quarter. The Dolphins were unable to get in the endzone and it seemed as if the starters took a step back from last week's game. Coach Wannstedt didn't see Miami's inablity to score a TD as a warning sign. The Dolphins were without DT Darryl Gardener, S Brian Walker, CB Patrick Surtain, WR Oronde Gadsden and DT Tim Bowens. All are expected to be ready for the season opener against the Titans. Miami's WRs are so banged up that WR Robert Baker who could be cut before the season opener served as the 4th WR. WR Jeff Ogden who is seldom used as a WR was Miami's 3rd WR and rookie Chris Chambers started opposite James McKnight. Fiedler wasn't as sharp as in his previous games but he did finish the game with an OK stat line. He did throw one bad pass that was picked off.

The Dolphins will play the Vikings next Friday, but in that game most of the second and third teamers will have a bigger role as coach Wannstedt will try to keep the starters fresh for the season opener.

The Dolphins must get to a 68 men roster from the current 81 men roster by Tuesday. Every NFL team can carry 53 men on their regular season roster with 45 of them active for every game (the 3rd QB is inactive but can come in when the first 2 QBs get injured - but then the first QB can't get back in).

The Dolphins finally managed to trade for Bears QB Cade McNown. Terms of the deal were not disclosed but sources around the team say it's a future low round pick (could be 6th or 7th) in next year's draft or even in 2003. ESPN reported that it could even be a conditiobal pick. McNown, the 12th overall choice in the 1998 draft had a couple of bad years in Chicgo and both the coaches and teamates didn't get along with him.
Miami is getting a talented player for almost nothing in return. His base salary is under 400,000, so it's pretty much a no lose situation. He won't count much against the salary cap. However one Dolphin could lose his job because of the trade. There is a good chance that the team will carry 4 QBs into the regular season, meaning 4 QBs count towards the 53 man roster so another player must go in order to make room for McNown. The Dolphins have fierce competition for spots in the defensive line and secondary between some good players.
Miami has already tried that year-long-audition trick with former 49ers first rounder Jim Druckenmiller but later cut him. Druckenmiller never played for the Dolphins in a real game. QB Jay Fiedler can opt out of his contract after this season and McNown won't play in 2002 but will have a year to audition for one of Miami's top two QBs spots.

The Dolphins lost their third pre season game in overtime to the Chargers 23-20. It really doesn't matter, what matters is the Dolphins showed their big play ability. Something the Dolphins didn't have in years. Fiedler had a very effective night completing 9 of 10 for 130+ yards 2 TDs and an INT. Fiedler connected with free agent WR James McKnight for a 72 yard play and QB Ray Lucas hook up with rookie WR Chris Chambers for a 41 yard pass play. Granted, the Chargers do give up many big plays, but it's still something. The Dolphin first teamers outplayed their Charger counteparts and looked pretty good. No major injuries is a huge plus in those meaningless pre season games. The Dolphins obviously have more speed at the wide receiver position with McKnight, Chambers and Ward, but, will it translate into big plays in real game action ? Can the Dolphins have enough big plays to score fast and open things up for the running game ? Will the Dolphins strike enough fear in the opponets in order to prevent 8 man fronts ? In short, is the big play here to stay ? - Only time will tell.

The Dolphins accomplished the most important objective in any pre season game. That is getting by the game without any serious injuries. Taylor, JJ Johnson and Lucas got injured but their injuries are not serious.
As for the game the Dolphins lost 17-10. Fiedler played 2 drives and completed 4 of 5 but with one bad INT. Lucas was OK and so was Quinn. The most important thing is that Springgs was OK and Ben Kelly, starting for the injured Surtain, played well. WR Chris Chambers had 2 receptions and I thought he played well, because in the pre draft reports he was supposed to be a guy that drops the ball a lot and he made 2 droppable receptions. I think he will be fine.
Mixon and Bromell will try to replace the departed Trace Armstrong in pass rush situations. They got a sack a piece.
OLB Twann Russel stareted at OLB and played OK but Scott Galyon played pretty well as well. This battle for the starting position between those two and rookie LB Morlon Greenwood will not be decided untill the regular season.
Mare connected on a 45 yarder and was short from 54. He did have a face mask TD saving tackle on a kickoff return P Turk averaged just over 40 yards a kick.
As for the running game. Smith looked like he was ready to go for the regular season running hard and dragging tacklers. He finished with 7 rushes for 21 yards and a TD. Rookie RB Minor saw a lot of action and managed 35 yards on 9 carries. He did show some flashes of cutting ability but that could also translate into too much dancing John-Avery-style. Denson was nothing to write home about.
CB Jamar Fletcher didn't do anything worth mentioning, He's still a wait-and-see. S Arturo Freeman didn't have a very good game. Wooden was OK. If Surtain manages to get back for the season opener Miami should be fine in the defensive backfield.
Miami will play Tampa bay next Sunday in its second of 5 pre season games.

Starting LT Brent Smith was injured in training camp and he was put on injured reserve. That means he is out for the season and can not play in 2001. T Marcus Springgs, the free agent acquisition from Buffalo will probably take his place. If Springgs can not handle the load, the Dolphins will probably look for a free agent guard and move LG Mark Dixon to the tackle spot.
WR Dedric Ward hurt his knee and he is scheduled to miss 4-6 games. He could be back by week 2 of the regular season against the Bills. That said, missing training camp will hurt him because he is new to the team and the injury will prevent him from establishing some kind of rhythm with QB Jay Fielder. Rookie WR Chris Chambers will be the third WR.
Perhaps the worst news is that CB Patrick Surtain will mis 4 weeks and he should be back for the second game of the season. The Dolphins kickoff the season against the Titans, they aren't known for their passing ability but nonetheless missing Surtain could hurt Miami. With Surtain the Dolphins can put Madison and Surtain on an island with the Titans' receivers and concentrate on stopping RB Eddie George. The injury will give first round pick Jamar Fletcher and second year corner Ben Kelly extended practice time and that could have a positive effect in the long run.