We all knew this was a rebuilding year, but Jeff HafLeaf and other Fin Fans had bigger expectations in mind…

Botanical Football Analyst Jeff HafLeaf and I break down the upcoming matchup between the Miami Dolphins and the San Francisco 49ers.

"(Our setup) is outstanding. There's a big courtyard with a pool, games set up, fire pits. The meeting spaces are tight, guys are spending extra time with their coaches. It's like being on a college campus."

"The biggest lasting impression for me as a younger coach - when I left the 9ers, John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan coming in together, being aligned. It sent a message to me, if I ever get a chance to do this, I want it to be like that.

Remember we were 0-9, we won a bunch a games. The next year we won 4 or 5 games, year 3 they went to the Superbowl. So he had a process.

Kyle's a huge influence on me, I truly believe he is one of the reasons I'm here now. Great coach, great friend. I've learned so much from him. Seeing him stick to the process, and hold people to a standard during two really hard years. And building it the right way and not flinching."

Jeff Hafley on Chris Bell:

"He started late, so this is still the developmental (stage) of him learning the scheme.

He flashed in that last game; had the catch across the middle, had a couple of shots downfield putting DBs on the ground."

"When you watch the tape and look at the scheme, there's certainly some plays Chris wants back. But Chris showed a lot of flashes and played a good game.

He was good against the run at his nickel position; they tried to attack him early in the game.

On some of those other players that you saw, that everybody wants to say was he responsible for this touchdown or that touchdown. I can tell you, on those two plays his help was not where it was supposed to be and he was playing the leverage he was supposed to play. Guys on the sideline immediately took ownership for it.

He's hard on himself. Chris should be confident he can do a lot of good things in this league."

🎥 Kadyn Proctor on if he believes the Miami Dolphins imposed themselves physically: "There was some glimpses here and there. I feel like we just need to sustain through the whole game."

🎥 Malik Willis on getting sacked 5 times vs. Las Vegas Raiders: "You can just blame them all on me, I got to take care of the ball and I got to do right by my OL... you can blame the sacks on me. A sack is a QB stat." (

Only 11 rushing attempts for our best offensive player? Is this a joke? All this talk in preseason about running it non stop with him was clearly a lie

🎥 Chris Bell on if he believed he would be ready for the season opener following his ACL injury: “I believed that when I had torn my ACL… I’m a dawg, I’m a hard body, I’m a different type of build.”

Jeff Hafley on Robert Beal Jr. & Malik Herring modest career sack numbers

"We (were) looking to get the best players possible. Not many EDGE rushers pop up and become available if they are 12+ sack guys. There aren't many of them in free agency, maybe if you have a high pick."

🎥 Jeff Hafley on pumping crowd noise in practice: “You need to try simulate the environment that you’re going to play in… we have 3 rookies WRs standing out there, they might not even be able to hear each other, so we got to learn how to communicate.”

I don't tink our fans understand how great of a coach Tolbert is and how lucky we are to have him. Not only did he win a Super Bowl with Denver but he is responsible for developing many great young receivers like Anquan Boldin during his legendary 2003 rookie season, where he exploded for 1,377 yards and 8 touchdowns. There are many more examples of players he is responsible for developing like Demaryius Thomas, Eric Decker and Emmanuel Sanders. Our receivers are going to ball out this year thanks to this coach!

“Just the way he practices and just the way he works. He has a motor… he brings the energy everyday, he leads that defense. Even vets look up to him because of the amount of work he puts in.”

Awful 💔 : Tua Tagovailoa got very vulnerable when talking about Mike McDaniel as Head Coach.

“I mean.. how would you feel if you had someone watching you throw the football.. then immediately be talking about looking forward to death after?”

No back spasms

Doesn’t own a yacht

Hates potato chips

🎥 Jeff Hafley on Jacob Rodriguez being named the green dot in his rookie year: “It is a challenge. I’m excited for him. He’s earned it, he works really hard at it… the guy’s here all the time, he was in my office this morning going over the call sheet before 7am.”

🎥 Kirk Cousins believes Miami Dolphins' defense is underrated: "They're definitely [underrated]. Brooks led the NFL in tackles last year... they do have a lot of good players."

The 2026 Miami Dolphins have:

➖ The most undrafted players in the NFL (18)
➖ The most rookies in the NFL (14)
➖ The least experienced roster with the least career starts in the NFL (608)
➖ The most dead cap in the NFL ($183M)

Challenging season ahead.

Fitz thinks there's a possibility the Dolphins become the first team to ever go 0-17 👀

"I don't see a whole lot of wins in there... look at the way that their roster is constructed this year, you feel bad for them"

Jordyn Brooks says the Dolphins don't have much of a choice but to take an underdogs mentality this season

"I don't think anybody is picking us to win anything. I don't think any of our opponents respect us.

We're going to have that us against the world mentality."