The Phinsider
The Miami Dolphins host the Buffalo Bills later this afternoon, hoping to turn around a bad 2025 season and a bad stretch of games against their AFC East rivals. The Dolphins, 2-7 on the season, are playing for pride at this point, hoping to make it through the second half of the year without embarrassing themselves as they prepare for next year. The oddsmakers are not expecting much from Miami for this game, with FanDuel Sportsbook giving the Dolphins 9.5 points on the spread.
As this year continues to drag along, fan confidence in the direction of the Dolphins has been among the league’s worst. Our latest SB Nation Reacts fan confidence survey continues that trend – though they are not the absolute worst results across the league this week. While only 12 percent of Dolphins fans feel the team is headed in the right direction – likely a reflection of the team moving on from general manager Chris Grier – the Cincinnati Bengals have the lowest fan confidence rate at just two percent.
It is not great, but it is at least something.
Week 1 – 45%
Week 2 – 5%
Week 3 – 3%
Week 4 – 9%
Week 5 – 32%
Week 6 – 5%
Week 7 – 3%
Week 8 – 6%
Week 9 – 16%
Week 10 – 12%
This week, we also asked for your grade of the Dolphins’ trade deadline moves. Except, there was really only one move. On Monday, a day before the Tuesday 4 p.m. Eastern deadline, Miami traded linebacker Jaelan Phillips to the Philadelphia Eagles for a third-round draft pick. Miami agreed to pay most of Phillips’ remaining salary for the year, essentially paying to upgrade the offered draft pick.
That was believed to be the start to several moves Miami could make to stockpile draft picks as they begin preparations for a rebuild. Then they did nothing else. There were rumors, speculation, and guesses of other Dolphins moves to come, but when the deadline hit, Miami had not made another trade.
Our poll results seem to indicate a “meh” attitude among fans due to the lackluster moves. Asked to grade the deadline moves, you came back with a “C” grade – and probably a C- when you consider 51 percent of the vote actually fell into the D or F range.
The Dolphins have already made a move in their front office, with former general manager Chris Grier leaving and Champ Kelly being named the interim GM. Media reports following that move indicated head coach Mike McDaniel is likely safe for the rest of the 2025 season, with owner Stephen Ross considering retaining McDaniel beyond this season. The results from the SB Nation Reacts national poll for this week do not indicate that it will happen, however.
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