subject: The NFLs Sleeper Team [print this page] In the modern era of the NFL, parity is kingIn the modern era of the NFL, parity is king. We see it every year. Teams go from worst to first, first to worst, and mediocre to Super Bowl contender. The difficult part is picking out which teams are going to make that jump. This year, I'm pretty sure that one of those teams will be the Miami Dolphins.
The Dolphins were not bad last year, finishing 7-9 and just missing the playoffs. When you consider how much this team has improved from that mediocre team last year, it's surprising that there is not more talk about them among the NFL analysts.
One of the team's biggest weaknesses last year was at wide receiver, where they have of course added free agent superstar Brandon Marshall. Marshall has caught 100 passes each of the last few years, which is almost as many as the entire Dolphins' receiving core has hauled in over the same span. Chad Henne, an up and coming quarterback who has already played well in his up and coming career, finally has a receiver to help him out.
Another of the Dolphins' biggest weaknesses last year was their front seven, particularly at linebacker. That area has been addressed several times over this offseason. The first way it was addressed was with the Dolphins' other big free agent acquisition, Karlos Dansby. Dansby brings some reliability to an area that was previously full of question marks. The Dolphins also have added several top draft picks to play along with him up front.
Perhaps just as important as Dansby for the linebackers is Mike Nolan. Nolan has a track record as a great defensive coordinator who has turned around defenses that were much worse than this Miami Dolphins unit. Add in the young cornerbacks who had great rookie years and should only get better, and all the guys coming back from injury (like Ronnie Brown), and the Dolphins are surely a team to watch out for in 2010.
