Omar Kelly: No more excuses for these Dolphins. Either put up, or get out.

Omar Kelly, Miami Herald on Oct 4, 2025

Published in Football

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MIAMI — Can we be frank about the rest of the 2025 Miami Dolphins season?

What we’ll witness on Sunday against the Carolina Panthers (1-3), and the 12 games that follow is a preview of what’s to come.

In case you haven’t realized it, 2026 is a pivot season for South Florida’s NFL franchise.

That’s when this franchise was prepared to move on from superstar receiver Tyreek Hill, who knew his days were numbered in Miami because of the $36 million in salary (and cap savings) the Dolphins would receive if they released him in the offseason, or traded him this month.

Now that a trade is off the table, and Hill’s facing an arduous rehab of the catastrophic left knee injury he sustained in Monday’s 27-21 win against the New York Jets, we’re simply getting a preview of this franchise’s future offense if things stay status quo (sound familiar).

And here’s my truth about this situation, this preview of the pivot ...

I don’t want to hear another excuse for this franchise’s failure from this point moving forward.

Not one!

This 1-3 record is a byproduct of the disappointing team that general manager Chris Grier built, players coach Mike McDaniel handpicked and a plan owner Steve Ross gave a thumbs up to, and then paid for.

Unless the Dolphins produce a miraculous turnaround, delivering a 10-win season that makes Miami playoff bound, everyone is at fault for this continuous ride on the mediocrity merry-go-around because these are self-inflicted wounds.

After all, this is a franchise that added its starting cornerbacks — Rasul Douglas, Jack Jones and Cornell Armstrong — days before the season opener, and did so by choice.

Miami knew they had the most fragile quarterback in the NFL and neglected to properly address the offensive line in the offseason.

Guess what unit’s still struggling, and the reason quarterback Tua Tagovailoa openly admits he’s rushing through his reads?

We’re talking about an organization that made the foundation of the team’s defense, its backbone, a trio of rookie defensive tackles, despite the awareness that the newbies would likely experience growing pains.

Surprise surprise, the Dolphins are one of the NFL’s worst teams defending the run, and have the worst passer rating (125.1) for opposing quarterbacks in the NFL.

This is the same front office that let Calais Campbell sign a one-year deal that could potentially be worth $6 million with the Arizona Cardinals, letting the forceful defensive lineman, and sensational team leader walk out the door without a fight.

This organization chose Nick Westbrook-Ikine as the lone free-agent addition at the receiver spot, hoping that his size would add a mission element to this offense.

Now that there’s a vacant starting spot caused by Hill’s absence, will it be Westbrook-Ikhine or someone else asked to step up their contribution?

And if it’s not Westbrook-Ikhine, why not?

We’re long past the stage of wondering if Grier’s a good talent evaluator. If he were, the Dolphins wouldn’t have a laundry list of draftees they annually release, with cornerback Cam Smith, a second-round pick in 2023, being the latest.

It’s time we take a no-more-excuses approach to this franchise’s problems because most of the Dolphins’ issues, wounds are indeed self-inflicted by bad choices, lackluster leadership.

The removal of Hill isn’t justification for a do-over, or a reason for this season being sideswiped because Hill was on the field when these Dolphins dug themselves an 0-3 hole to start the season.

Since April, McDaniel’s offense has practiced more without Hill than they have with him, so nobody should accept an excuse that finding its footing without Hill requires patience.

I don’t want to hear that Jaylen Waddle can’t carry the passing game because the Dolphins made him one of the NFL’s top-12 paid receivers in 2024, signing him to an extension that annually pays him $19.2 million a season for the first three years of the deal (which concludes the guaranteed money portion).

Waddle, who enters Sunday’s game averaging 4.2 receptions and 46.2 receiving yards per game, is compensated like a game-changer, so he needs to play like one.

McDaniel came to the Dolphins as a run game specialist, and even though he became obsessed with the pass game because of Hill, he should be able to lean on his roots, juicing up Miami’s rushing attack, which is the best thing this offense has done through four games.

McDaniel no longer has an excuse to not lean into the ground game, which is averaging 4.7 yards per carry.

If these Dolphins can’t find a way to stabilize the ship, getting the 2025 season on a better course what should convince us they would be able to do it next year?

This franchise, this regime, these coaches, these players have officially run out of excuses, and our patience.