© Ed Mulholland

The Miami Dolphins have to make the playoffs at the end of the 2025 regular season or ownership will clean house, fire Mike McDaniel and Chris Grier and the AFC East squad will start over from scratch.

After his first two seasons leading the Dolphins, McDaniel looked like the brightest young up-and-coming head coach in the NFL. He led the Dolphins to the playoffs in his first season and followed that (9-8) finish with 11 wins in 2023 and another postseason berth. The Dolphins lost in the wildcard round both times but Tua Tagovailoa put together the best season of his NFL career in 2023 and played in all 17 games for the first time since getting drafted out of Alabama.

So heading into last season, expectations were high for the Miami Dolphins in the AFC East that has been dominated by the Buffalo Bills for the last five-plus years. But instead of taking another step forward last season, the Dolphins took a significant step back.

After giving Tagovailoa a massive four-year contract extension worth more than $214 million last summer, the Dolphins starting QB suffered a head injury early in the year that sidelined him for four games. There was a point where Tagovailoa’s career was in jeopardy due to his history with concussions, and while he eventually returned, the Dolphins lost all four games in his absence and the hole was too deep to climb out of.

It’s clear the Miami Dolphins will only go as far as Tagovailoa takes them. This offseason they made the move to sign former first round QB Zach Wilson as a reliable backup in-case their starting signal caller is out for any time with an injury, but the Dolphins are banking on Tagovailoa to take the team to the playoffs and beyond.

With so much uncertainty surrounding Tagovailoa considering his history with injury, Bleacher Report’s Mitchel Milani threw out a wild prediction that would send the NFL in a frenzy.

Milani predicts the Miami Dolphins as a potential landing spot for free agent QB Aaron Rodgers.

“Tua Tagovailoa is the most injured and frequently unreliable quarterback in football Aaron Rodgers could fill in and ride with Tyreek Hill and Jalen waddle and retire in Florida.”