FOXBOROUGH, Mass. _ The Miami Dolphins' 2019 season is over. You can open your eyes now. Because things are back to normal starting Monday morning.
The season that turned the franchise upside down, that turned the fan base upside down, that turned success and failure upside down, is over.
The Dolphins not only survived but actually thrived at the end, with Sunday's stunning 27-24 victory over the New England Patriots giving Miami it's fifth victory in the past nine games_a 5-4 finish after an 0-7 start.
So we have Exhibit A this team's future is in the capable hands of a coaching staff led by Brian Flores. And those guys turned a roster of anonymous manes into a team that beat the AFC Beast Patriots. So the future with this staff seems promising.
Awesome.
But here's the thing: It's no longer about the future with these Dolphins.
Because the future begins in earnest on Monday. That, everyone should decide, is the start of the new era in Dolphins history_one in which we can all get back to understanding what the heck is good and what's definitely bad.
For nearly 12 months, you must know, we've all succumbed to the thinking the Dolphins imposed on us that was, well, radical. And that thinking went something like this:
Lose now to win later.
Failing now is good. Because it will lead to success later.
So the Dolphins divested themselves of players, some more talented than others. They dropped what they thought were toxic contracts to clear the salary cap decks in the future. They made moves that would ordinarily puzzle pundits and cause a fan riot.
And they got applauded for it all because, again, failing in 2019 was good for the promise of succeeding in 2020.
We're done with that now, folks.
The new year will dawn soon and usher in a new chapter in Dolphins history. And that chapter begins with these words: Win now.
Win often.
Win at everything you can.
Win, win, win. There is no substitute. There is no caveat. There must be no excuses.
For nearly 12 months we've been observing the Dolphins and basically accepting everything they've done even when that included a lot of losing. And rather than being disgusted, some were enthusiastic about the failure because, yippie, the 2020 draft is coming.
Well, the work for securing a slot in that draft is complete. The Dolphins will select fifth in the first round.
And this: The chances are very good they Dolphins will be picking a quarterback. And that guy's main job is to join a quarterback room that will likely include Ryan Fitzpatrick and Josh Rosen.
So no more flyers. No more bridge quarterback vets.
The target is a franchise QB.
That's not coming from the Dolphins themselves. In fact, the Dolphins on Monday will hold a press conference to signal the end of the season_and the start of reaching for awesome again_and general manager Chris Grier will almost certainly say he doesn't need to draft a quarterback with his first pick, or in the first round, or maybe at all.
He'll likely say something like, "We have a lot of needs and we'll be filling those and if we can find a quarterback we want, that will be one of the needs we fill."
He definitely will not say, "I need to draft a quarterback come what may."
You know why? Because he's a smart guy and he doesn't want other teams in the draft to think the Dolphins are desperate for a quarterback. That would announce Miami's intentions while also weakening Miami's position.
But make no mistake. This offseason absolutely will bring a new quarterback that, at minimum, will compete to start in 2020. Maybe he starts right away, maybe, if he's a rookie such as Tua Tagovailoa, he has to grow a bit before he starts.
But that guy will be on the roster.
Because if he's not, that's a failure. And in 2020, failure is no longer acceptable.
Did you notice I just wrote (right up there a paragraph or three) that the quarterback room will include Rosen and Fitzpatrick? That's the way it's trending, I'm told.
The Dolphins internally have no plan to dump Rosen even though he sort of flamed out after only three starts. The reason is the team still sees him as a young asset with impressive talent. And, I'm told, there is optimism he can grow significantly next year if he remains under the same offensive coordinator.
Because Josh Rosen will be starting his third NFL season next year and he's already had three offensive coordinators. So a second year under Chad O'Shea will help, the Dolphins believe.
The Dolphins go into this offseason with a lot of needs. Grier will talk about that on Monday. Yes, the team has 14 draft picks, including three first-round picks, and over $100 million in salary cap space, among the highest in the NFL.
But the Dolphins also have a ton of needs in addition to quarterback.
The 2020 Dolphins will be looking for help at running back, along the offensive line, along the defensive line. At cornerback. At safety. And I might be forgetting something.
That doesn't mean the Dolphins feel they are bereft of talent.
The team likes cornerback Nik Needham, who started most of this season, because he took well to coaching, doing everything the staff asked and it translated into significant improvement.
The Dolphins like linebacker Vince Biegel because he's physically tough. He's scrappy. He plays hard.
The team likes Jomal Wiltz and believe he's trending in the right direction.
The Dolphins are encouraged that tight end (misnomer, he's really a receiver) Mike Gesicki had a good second half of the season and coaches have seen his confidence growing.
The Dolphins also see offensive tackle Julien Davenport, who came as a throw-in in the Laremy Tunsil trade, as a lineman with the flexibility to be a swing tackle. He's started for Miami at both left and right tackle and although the Dolphins want to upgrade there, Davenport could be a factor.
The offensive line, by the way, is not going to be a total rebuild. The Dolphins aren't discarding rookie Michael Deiter. Yes, he had some good games and some bad games. But the Dolphins will ask him to get in the weight room this offseason, change his body a bit, and hope that and his innate toughness will help him in 2020.
The edge rushers? Taco Charlton was inactive again on Sunday. And 2017 first-round pick Charles Harris didn't collect any statistics despite playing. And neither is getting dumped because the Dolphins need bodies and are in no position to give up on potential that's under contract.
The safety position is going to be interesting. The Dolphins are neither committed to keeping veteran Reshad Jones nor absolutely certain they'll cut him.
Yes, the Dolphins can save around $11.5 million in cap space by designating Jones a post-June 1 cut. But that decision doesn't have to be finalized now. So right now, the team's position on Jones is he's here_for now.
All this is detail on what is obviously a new direction, which is to try to win at everything. All the time. That wasn't always the case in 2019, but we're done with that.
Open your eyes again.
