The 2025 Free Agency/NFL Draft "All-Dog" Team
Just about anyone who talks about the Dolphins' needs will be quick to point out that this team needs "more dogs." So, who are the best candidates available in either free agency or the NFL Draft?
Tyreek Hill’s outburst and the subsequent defense of his actions to start this offseason underscored a particular theme — one that the Dolphins have been battling for the past several seasons thanks to negative feedback from a number of personalities around the game. That includes a former teammate from 2023 in De’Shon Elliott:
The Dolphins are having a hard time beating the allegations that they are “soft.”
Hill, after his embarrassing tirade as a team captain in the locker room following the Dolphins’ Week 18 loss to the Jets, fueled that narrative on one of his live-streams by saying that the Dolphins “need more dogs” on the roster in order to compete. He was defiant in his right to feel the way he does until magically he wasn’t — when he went on an apology tour during the Super Bowl media week.
But Miami’s “softness” and need for more dogs was thrust back into the spotlight over the weekend amid a revelation from former offensive lineman Jonathan Martin, who came clean after a decade—the BullyGate scandal that rocked the Dolphins locker room was constructed on a lie. Martin, in his own words, said the quiet part out loud, which had been suspected for much of the past decade.
“I never believed for a second I was being bullied.”
I’m not certain what kind of outcome Martin was hoping for when he decided to come clean after all these years, especially while doing so in a way that somehow made him seem even less likable than his conduct in real-time made him seem to be amid his departure from the team, as was highlighted by at least one former player over the weekend.
None of Martin’s shortcomings on or off the field justify some of the conduct from Richie Incognito that was uncovered throughout the subsequent investigation — that’s also important to underscore here. But the Dolphins’ entire organization was cast into a firestorm that shook many levels of the team to their core based entirely on a dishonest representation of the truth — one that conveniently catered to a single jaded personality. And, it could be argued, in some ways, Miami is still fighting the demons from it.
Martin was, in his own way, defiant about his own misdeeds in his interviews with ESPN and felt eager to paint himself as an alpha. He referred to himself as an “apex predator”. He passively took shots at Pouncey, Incognito, and John Jerry, stating he has no hard feelings because they’d “already peaked” in life. Martin, in his own eyes, clearly has not. Accordingly, he’s hoping you will “forget the only thing you know” about him.
When people show you who they are, you should believe them. And a decade before Tyreek Hill chose to take his ball and go home just a few minutes into the second half while his teammates battled “for the love of the game”, Jonathan Martin did it first.
Martin has every right to pursue whatever brings him happiness in life. I wish him well in that regard. But to retroactively rewrite history and hope to wipe clean the stains of his past after such a damaging experience to one of the things that brings happiness in my life, the Miami Dolphins? Jonathan Martin will and forever always will be the man who tucked his tail between his legs, took his ball, and went home — perpetuating a damaging lie for a decade to coddle his own inability to tackle the reality of his failures and shortcomings on the gridiron. And I’m just a lifelong fan who happens to cover the team for a living these days; who knows what others who were around that facade personally at the time think?
Tyreek Hill is not Jonathan Martin.
Hill has his own sins and misdeeds on and off the field (which is putting it lightly), but his unhinged behavior directed directly at the franchise comes with All-Pro accolades and more plus plays in a game than Martin could have ever hoped to collect. As bad of a look as it was for a team captain to check himself out of a game and subsequently declare himself “out”, things have yet to unfold from here. Perhaps the rawness of Hill’s temper tantrum will fade with time if Hill means what he says about wanting to continue to be in Miami. I have my doubts, but time will tell.
If nothing else, here’s hoping this latest sideshow of player commitment and handling of adversity brings some of the changes needed for the betterment of the franchise. This comes back to BullyGate and what many feel the Dolphins have been lacking ever since — reaffirmed amid the 2024 struggles, Tyreek Hill’s statements after the season, and the revelation of Martin’s lie all at once:
The Dolphins need more dogs.
Not the kind you take to the park and play fetch with, but rather the physical and/or obsessively intense individuals who give a football team its edge. Where can they find them? This offseason looms as a major opportunity to tuck a few more into the fray and assemble a roster with the intensity and edge required for the Dolphins to have a breakthrough. So, without further adieu, I’ve assembled an “All-Dogs” Team comprised of players available in the NFL Draft and free agency for the Dolphins’ consideration.
Not all of these options will make sense for the Dolphins. There are age and cost considerations with free agency targets. There are blockades on the roster at some positions that would make new additions cost-prohibitive. And not every position group has a true “dog” at both spots. It shouldn’t be hard to spot the pretenders.
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