JACKSONVILLE – Senior writer John Oehser each week during the 2024 regular season will speak with a writer or media member covering the Jaguars' opponent.
Up this week:
Armando Salguero – longtime Miami Dolphins writer now with OutKick – on the Dolphins as they prepare for Sunday's 2024 Week 1 game against the Jaguars at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.
Q: The Dolphins have been a playoff team the past two seasons, making it as a wild-card entrant each season before losing in the first round. What's the storyline for this team entering 2024?
A: I wouldn't say the road has cleared, but there are a lot fewer obstacles in the way now in the AFC East. The Buffalo Bills are kind of retooling; they're a team that because of the salary cap is having to reshape itself. Meanwhile, the Dolphins graduated some people, but their key, key guys – guys like [wide receiver] Tyreek Hill, [wide receiver] Jaylen Waddle, [quarterback] Tua Tagovailoa, [cornerback] Jalen Ramsey – are all there. The expectation straight from ownership is to win and finally get over the hump of a postseason win, which they haven't had since January of 2000.
Q: Tagovailoa obviously is a major storyline, having signed a long-term contract extension in the offseason. Where is he as he enters his fifth NFL season?
A: It's the same storyline as the theme with [quarterback] Trevor Lawrence in Jacksonville. They have basically similar contracts based on an annual average. They're in the same ballpark, obviously. They just signed very lucrative extensions. Neither one of them has really risen to the height of "Follow me, I'm going to lead you to the promised land and here's the evidence." The Jaguars had some playoff success a couple of years ago. Tua hasn't had any. Tua needs to step up. Everybody needs to step up. Even [Dolphins Head Coach] Mike McDaniel has said, "When you are the highest-paid employee in the building, expectations are really high for you, and you have to work very hard every single day to meet those expectations."
Q: On the field, what's his next step?
A: He is a perfect animal of a system right now in that I couldn't think of anyone better to play in that system. But sometimes, stuff breaks down. Sometimes, it doesn't go according to script. Sometimes, the other guys on defense … they get a vote – and their vote is, "You're going to fail." In those times, Tua has to produce. Too often, he hasn't – especially late in the seasons, especially against high-caliber teams and defenses. The next step is, "Dude, in December and January, you have to be the guy who is in fact earning the 'C' on your jersey. You're a team captain. Go out there and lead and be the reason that the team is winning, not one of the reasons that it's failing."
Q: This is one of the NFL's best offenses. When it's right, how good can it be?
A: We're going to judge that not by what they do against struggling, losing teams. Remember: They put 70 points on the Denver Broncos last season. They averaged 275 yards passing a game until the end of the season, then it was just 221 against Baltimore, 167 against Buffalo and 188 against Kansas City in the final three games of the season. At the end of the season, when things were important, when the division was on the line, they produced fewer yards per game, fewer points per game, fewer rush yards per game, fewer pass yards per game. You're great as far as your overall scope of the season. but if you look at it more organically and closer to the end of the season, it didn't live up to what it needed to live up to.
Q: The Dolphins in the offseason hired Anthony Weaver, a defensive line coach for the Baltimore Ravens the past three seasons, as defensive coordinator. Why, and what does he bring?
A: You hope he brings the toughness and the swag and – beyond the system – just the production of a typical Ravens defense, particularly at the end of a season. They went out and got some guys like [former Jaguars defensive lineman] Calais Campbell, who has been through the battles and been on good teams when they were fighting for the ability to get into the playoffs and succeed in the playoffs. You hope Weaver brings that sort of attitude. [Then-defensive coordinator] Vic [Fangio] obviously wasn't beloved by the players last season. He didn't belove them, either. You would think that the relationships will be better, the toughness will be stepped up and obviously, the production will be better.
Q: The storyline with the Dolphins last season was they were great against struggling teams and not nearly as good against good teams. Is their 2024 season as simple as that? Finding a way to beat contending teams?
A: Can they beat good teams? Obviously, a lot of that has to do with injuries as it does for everybody in the NFL. That is the one caveat that [Dolphins Owner] Steven Ross has put out there and that multiple people within the building have put out there: "We have to stay healthy." Because the Dolphins are paying a lot of players – including Tyreek Hill, including Jaylen Waddle, including Jalen Ramsey – their middle class is not huge. They have a lot of highly paid players: [Offensive tackle Terron] Armstead is another one. They have a lot of highly paid players and then a lot of players that are on one-year contracts or younger players on rookie contracts, stuff like that. They don't have what I would deem a lot of depth.
