Notes, thoughts on comments from Dolphins’ Hill and Marino; a Tagovailoa contract, more

Reviewing five Dolphins-flavored developments that happened around the Super Bowl and some thoughts on each:

TYREEK HILL’S COMMENTS

Before watching his former team win a second consecutive Super Bowl without him, Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill said his new team has no more valid reasons to be ousted early in the playoffs.

“Well, there are no more excuses,” Hill told NFL Network on a Super Bowl studio show. “I feel like all the excuses have run out at this point. The first year we went to the playoffs together, we didn’t have our quarterback. This year, we went to the playoffs, it was freezing cold, we had our quarterback. And now it’s almost time like we have run out of excuses. Like everybody has literally had reps at playing in the playoffs. So now it’s all on us.”

Hill added: “Moving forward, we’ve got to continue on that strong trend that we began the season with. And I feel like in our last playoff game, our defense gave us enough opportunities to win that game. They got enough stops for us to win the game.

“Offensively, we’ve just got to get it going. We’ve got to be able to put drives together so our defense can stay off the field. All that takes is just some veteran leadership during the week, preparing ourselves fundamentally, being able to play fast even when it’s negative-3 degrees outside.

“And just do what our coaches tell us to do. I feel like Coach [Mike] McDaniel, especially my [wide receivers] coach Wes Welker, those guys, they did a great job the whole entire season of preparing us for moments like that like we had against Kansas City.

“So next year no more excuses, man. I feel like it’s all on us, man. So Fin Nation, you can expect a whole lot more from us.”

Hill — who caught 119 passes for a league-leading 1,799 yards and a league-leading 13 touchdown receptions — finished sixth in NFL MVP balloting.

▪ The view here: Good for Hill for challenging his team — and the offense specifically — to achieve more.

But here’s my concern: Are the Dolphins realistically near or at the ceiling for this rebuild?

It’s only going to get tougher for the Dolphins from here, with the salary cap creating challenges to keep their best players, with Joe Burrow returning from an injury, with Aaron Rodgers returning (at least for a year) for the Jets, with Jim Harbaugh likely to elevate Justin Herbert and the Chargers, with C.J. Stroud blossoming in Houston, with Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson — and most importantly — Patrick Mahomes in their prime?

For this current predicament to not be their ceiling or close to it, for the Dolphins to actually have the ability to do more than maybe win one wild card game, five things must happen:

1). Tagovailoa must become much better late in close games, and against good defenses, and when plays break down.

2). General manager Chris Grier cannot afford to go 2 for 5 or 3 for 5 on personnel moves, especially the draft. He must hit on four of every five. That’s a lot to expect.

3). Jaelan Phillips — who was well on his way to the cusp of Pro Bowl status before his Achilles injury — and Jevon Holland must become top 12 at their position, or better. Same with Jaylen Waddle and Devon Achane and perhaps Austin Jackson. Robert Hunt and Connor Williams are already there, but can the Dolphins re-sign them?

4). The Dolphins, fundamentally, need to correct defensive problems that plagued them in 2023 — allowing too many crossing routes for first downs, giving too much cushion to opposing receivers, finding a nickel corner who’s more effective than Kader Kahou was last season, limiting the repeated damage done against linebackers in pass coverage. And Grier must find a reliable boundary corner if Miami parts ways with Xavien Howard.

5). McDaniel must acknowledge Tagovailoa’s limitations in certain circumstances and commit to running the ball effectively and repeatedly in situations that call for it - such as the Kansas City game in sub-zero conditions.

And Grier plays a big role in executing that; he must further augment a pretty good offensive line with run blocking maulers, find a way to re-sign Williams and Hunt, and perhaps add a bruising bully back (Derrick Henry or someone in that mold), so that we’re not repeatedly subjected to horizontal, unproductive throws on 3rd and 1 or 2.

Only then will Miami have a legitimate shot to make an AFC Championship, let alone a Super Bowl. And that’s a lot to ask in a division with a quarterback (Allen) who’s 10-2 with a 110 passer rating against them and a conference where Mahomes already has won three Super Bowls and seems destined for more.

TAGOVAILOA CONTRACT

In a Sunday roundup of NFL quarterback situations, NFL Network insiders Ian Rapoport, Tom Pelissero and Mike Garofolo addressed the possibility of a Tagovailoa contract extension — one the quarterback said he expects — and wrote that “indications are both sides would like to get a deal done quickly this offseason so that it’s not a story line that hangs over training camp or the regular season. But it might not be easy to negotiate, and it definitely won’t be cheap.”

The NFL.com piece added this: “Tagovailoa just set career highs in passing yards (4,624), touchdowns (29) and completion percentage (69.3) while starting all 17 games — notable durability for a player who had missed significant time in previous years, including with concussion issues in 2022. With the salary cap continuing to rise, Tagovailoa now has a strong case to push for a contract at or above Joe Burrow’s top-of-the-market $55 million per season.”

▪ The view here: That last sentence might seem jarring, but keep in mind that according to overthecap.com, Herbert will earn $52 million per season on average (though not initially) in his extension and Jalen Hurts will earn $49 million annually, on average, in his extension.

Tagovailoa’s representation, Athletes First, could make the case that Tagovailoa outperformed Hurts in general last season and outplayed Herbert and Burrow in 2023 before each of their season-ending injuries. Also, the cap rising could artificially boost the total value of quarterback extensions.

The notion of Tagovailoa accepting a team-friendly, undervalued deal similar to the one signed by middle-of-the-pack QB Derek Carr ($37.5 million), let alone Geno Smith ($25 million), always seemed implausible. What remains to be seen is whether Tagovailoa’s concussion issues in 2022 would make him consider accepting generational wealth in the $43 million to $45 million annual range if the Dolphins refuse to go higher than that.

It would be an insult if the Dolphins offer Tagovailoa less than the $40 million annual salary for the Giants’ Daniel Jones. (All these numbers are courtesy of overthecap.com.)

Tagovailoa will play the 2024 season on his $23.1 million fifth-year option unless the Dolphins and Tagovailoa agree to a contract extension before the start of next season. The Dolphins exercised that option by last year’s May deadline.

CLASSIC JERSEYS

Dolphins fans seem to love when the team wears throwback jerseys, but owner Stephen Ross has no interest in going back to that look permanently. That’s what Dolphins special advisor Dan Marino confirmed in an interview with Mike Florio on PFT Live last week.

“I don’t think he will, because that was kind of his baby, you know what I mean?” Marino said. “I’d like to see them come back too, because they look great, especially when we have those games, you know, where we’re wearing the throwbacks. But at the same time, he owns the team. I don’t think he wants to hear that question anymore. Just better leave it alone. Leave it alone.”

▪ The view here: Considering Ross has spent whatever his front office asks him to spend, I can’t blame him for opting for modern jerseys, which create additional revenue potential. Twice a year would be a good compromise for alternate jerseys.

THE IRRITANT DURING THE SUPER BOWL

Few Chiefs defenders had a better Super Bowl than linebacker Leo Chenal, who forced a Christian McCaffrey fumble, blocked an extra point and had six tackles and a third-down stop.

Where did Chenal go in the 2022 draft? With the 103rd pick, one selection after Miami took a different linebacker, Georgia’s Channing Tindall.

In two seasons with the Dolphins, Tindall has just 21 defensive snaps and 11 total tackles.

In two seasons with the Chiefs, Chenal has 100 tackles (including 11 for loss), four sacks, and 18 starts, including 10 this past season.

▪ The view here: In the defense of Grier and other Dolphins officials involved in these picks, the organization has made several excellent draft selections on defense — Howard, Christian Wilkins, Phillips, Holland, Jerome Baker and Andrew Van Ginkel, among others. And no GM is perfect.

But a few misses still sting: Noah Igbinoghene over 2023 first-team All-Pro safety Antoine Winfield Jr; Tindall over Chenal; and of course, Charles Harris over T.J. Watt.

THE BRAZIL/SPAIN QUESTION

By choosing Philadelphia over the Dolphins to host the Week 1 2024 game in Brazil (where the Dolphins own marketing rights), the NFL essentially assured that the Dolphins won’t travel abroad for a game next season. That’s a smart and fair decision, considering the Dolphins (and all AFC teams) have nine road games and eight home games next season.

▪ The view here: The fact the Dolphins aren’t being sent to Brazil seemingly increases the odds that Miami might be a host team when the NFL plays a game in Madrid in 2025. The Dolphins and Bears have international marketing rights in Spain.

NFL NEWS ITEM

The Super Bowl was the most-watched television program in U.S. history, but Miami’s ratings — combined the English and Spanish audiences — were the worst among 44 markets tracked by Nielsen.

In the Miami-Fort Lauderdale market, the Chiefs-49ers game drew a combined 32.4 rating combining the telecasts on CBS 4, Univision and Nickelodeon. That means 32.4 percent of Dade/Broward/Monroe County homes with TV sets were tuned to the game.

That’s a very good number compared to other programming but well below average for a Super Bowl. It’s also not the least bit unusual for South Florida.

Nationally, the game drew 123.4 million average viewers across all platforms, including the CBS Television Network, Paramount+, Nickelodeon, Univision, and CBS Sports and NFL digital properties, including NFL+.