After a season to forget in Miami, new head coach Adam Gase is hopeful he can guide the Dolphins to their first playoff appearance since 2008 and their first playoff win since 2000.

By Greg DePalma, PSN Executive Producer

Miami Dolphins (6-10)

SB Futures: 50-1

FORMER

Last season was one to forget in the annals of Miami Dolphins football. Their over-matched head coach Joe Philbin was fired after an embarrassing loss in Europe to the rival NY Jets which put them in a 1-3 hole early.

The move seemed to light a fire, at least temporarily, as they beat their next two opponents by a combined 82-36. It was mostly downhill from there though as the Dolphins have now gone seven seasons without a playoff berth and 15 without a playoff win. Coincidentally that was just one year after the great Dan Marino decided to hang-up his cleats in Miami. And that’s just about how long Miami fans have been searching for a franchise player to be proud of.

CURRENT

While Miami fans continue to wait for that franchise player, they are also growing tired of waiting for a coach capable of leading them to respectability on the sidelines.

When the great Don Shula left after the ’95 season, Jimmy Johnson returned to his roots in an attempt to re-energize the franchise. JJ did take the Dolphins to the post-season in three of his four seasons, but he could never quite recapture that championship magic from his days in Dallas or in Miami with the Hurricanes. When Johnson retired, Miami fans could probably never have imagined how bad things were about to get.

All these years later and not since Nick Saban was hired in ’05 has the base been this excited about the possibilities with the hiring of Adam Gase.

Gase, a former offensive coordinator, has looked the part recently with both Chicago and Denver, but Jay Cutler and Peyton Manning were already proven quarterbacks by the time he took over. Also, don’t forget that Philbin looked ready for primetime as the offensive coordinator for Green Bay when the Packers won their most recent Super Bowl in 2010. Philbin coached another proven quarterback in Aaron Rodgers. My point is that just because a coach can look good as part of a staff with Hall Of Fame QBs like Manning and Rodgers doesn’t mean he’ll be great as the leader of one with Ryan Tannehill.

The top priority for Gase will be to get his $100 million dollar quarterback to earn every dollar. If Gase can work magic with Tannehill then the rest of the pieces are in place for a playoff season. The Dolphins have some young exciting skill position players including WR Jarvis Landry. But the next step is to scare the opposition with a credible deep passing attack which has sorely lacked under Tannehill. The Mike Wallace experiment failed so it’s up to second-year WR DeVante Parker and promising rookie WR Leonte Carroo to open up the field. Parker averaged 19 yards on his 26 receptions as a rookie while Carroo averaged over 19.5 yards on his 122 receptions during his college career at Rutgers.

The running game must also take up some slack with Lamar Miller departing for Houston. Miami is gambling on injury-prone players in second-year back Jay Ajayi and free agent acquisition Arian Foster. Ajayi rushed for over 3,700 yards with 50 TDs in college but missed his first seven games last year with a preseason rib injury. He also tore his ACL in 2011 and injured his knee just last week. Foster of course missed most of last season with a torn ACL in Houston.

On defense, the return of Cameron Wake from a season-ending Achilles injury will be crucial. If Wake returns close to form along with newly acquired free agent defensive end Mario Williams on the outside and the elite Ndamukong Suh on the inside, Miami will have a formidable unit up-front.

Former first-round pick Dion Jordan also returns from a one-year suspension. If the Dolphins can get anything out of Jordan, even if it comes mostly on special teams where he came up big on several occasions in 2014, Miami will be much better off.

I know we’re beating a dead horse here, but the health of MLB Kiko Alonso is also critical to the success of their defense. Alonso looked like a future NFL star after a great rookie season before multiple knee injuries derailed his time in Buffalo and Philadelphia. This season could define both his pro career and the playoff hopes for Miami.

The secondary has big questions at cornerback, but the safety duo of Reshad Jones and newly acquired free agent Isa Abdul-Quddus will be one of the most underrated in the league.

CONCLUSION

If rookie first-round pick Laremy Tunsil can be the difference-maker that the offensive line desperately needs inside at guard and QB Ryan Tannehill has his breakout season under the guidance of new head coach Adam Gase, the Dolphins offense will give Miami a chance on most weeks to compete and win games. But if the defense doesn’t find adequate cover corners to improve on their 28th-ranked pass defense that surrendered 31 TDs a year ago, it will be hard to imagine the offense making that much of an advancement in year-one of the Gase era to help earn Miami their first playoff berth in eight seasons.

And oh, did I forget to mention those players returning from injury? If players like Foster, Wake & Alonso stay healthy and play to their potential, it could all come down to the growth of Tannehill that determines the success or failure this season in Miami.

At the very least even if the Dolphins fail to make the playoffs, maybe their team can remind the fans of just how fun it used to be when Don Shula was roaming the sidelines and Dan Marino was all the rage.

BUY/PASS ON SUPER BOWL FUTURES

-PASS

Key Veteran Additions…

-FA OL Jermon Bushrod…Former Bear has 96 career starts but is coming off an injury plagued season in Chicago.

-FA OG Kraig Urbik…Former Bill is a below average player.

-FA DE Andre Branch…Former Jaguar is a below average defender.

-FA DE Mario Williams…Former Bill is coming off the worst season of his 10-year career.

-FA DE Jason Jones…Former Lion is an average defender.

-TR MLB Kiko Alonso…Former Eagle is coming off another injury plagued season resulting in a career-low 43 tackles.

-TR CB Byron Maxwell…Former Eagle coming off a terrible season in Philadelphia.

-FA FS Isa Abdul-Quddus…Former Lion coming off a breakout season in Detroit.

Key Veteran Subtractions…

-RB Lamar Miller…Rushed for 1,971 yards with 16 TDs the past two seasons in Miami with a 4.8 yards per carry average.

-WR Rishard Mathews…Coming off a breakout campaign that saw him catch 43 passes for 662 yards and four scores.

-WR Greg Jennings…Coming off the worst productive season of his 10-year career.

-DE Olivier Vernon…Played 942 snaps in ‘15/elite pass rusher.

-DE Derrick Shelby…Played 834 snaps in ‘15/above average defender.

-LB Kelvin Sheppard…Played 707 snaps in ’15/below average defender.

-CB Brent Grimes…Played 957 snaps in ‘15/solid defender is now 33.

Top Sleeper…

-CB Tony Lippett…Second-year player will get a chance to start while rookie second-round pick Xavien Howard recovers from a knee injury.

Also keep an eye on…

-OLB Neville Hewitt…Second-year FA did a great job in coverage during his rookie season.

-RB Kenyan Drake…Rookie third-round pick.

-WR Leonte Carroo…Rookie third-round pick.

-WR Jakeem Grant…Rookie sixth-round pick.

-LB James Burgess…Rookie FA.

-CB Ifo Ekpre-Olomu…Second-year player who would have been a first-round pick before he tore his ACL late during his senior year at Oregon.

-DB Jordan Lucas…Rookie sixth-round pick.

Key injuries/suspensions…

-RB Arian Foster…Returning from Achilles injury.

-OT Ja’wuan James…Returning from toe injury. Missed final nine games on IR.

-C Mike Pouncey…Returning from a foot injury that cost him the final two games last season.

-OL Jermon Bushrod…Returning from a shoulder injury.

-DE Cameron Wake…Returning from Achilles injury suffered last October. Missed final nine games on IR.

-DE Dion Jordan…Returning from a one-year suspension for violating league drug policy.

-DT Earl Mitchell…Missed several games late last season with a calf injury.

-OLB Jelani Jenkins…Dealt with a few injuries late in the season which limited his playing time and performance.

-MLB Kiko Alonso…Returning from knee injury.

-LB Koa Misi…Returning from back injury he suffered in mid-December.

-CB Xavien Howard…Placed on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list after suffering a knee injury at mini-camp in June.