The big fantasy question surrounding the Miami Dolphins of 2012 is who will be the WR1 on this team. The Dolphins are team in transition. The Phins hired a new coach who brings a new offensive philosophy. This means they are also trying to establish a fresh playbook and get veterans from the 2011 roster to adjust to this new system of 2012.
New Head Coach Joe Philbin comes from the Green Bay Packers. His offensive coordinator Mike Sherman coached Texas A&Mto 3rd in the nation in total offensive. This translates to an up tempo offense and Reggie Bush stated after mini-camp there was “little rest between plays, we ran tons of no huddle”.
Currently the Dolphins Depth chart reads like this:
Brian Hartline – has decent size and decent hands, can make some plays but lacks any outstanding physical gifts to become a legitimate threat at this level.
Devon Bess - lacks the ability to gain yards after the catch so you are not getting a playmaker here. But, if he puts his hands on the ball, he will mostly like catch it. His four year average is a 65.5% reception rate.
Legedu Naanee - has failed to establish himself at this level and I am betting that will follow him for his career. More of a special teams player.
Chad Johnson - the artist formerly known as Ochocinco is now in Miami. Does he have anything left? He will never regain his pro bowl status, but Chad does fit well in this up tempo style of offense. He is in good physical shape and has decent burst off the line. He has never been known for possessing outstanding hands and needs a high amount of volume to produce fantasy points.
Either Matt Moore or David Garrard will bridge the gap at QB for rookie Ryan Tannehill. There should be more than enough targets to go around on this team to make some
receiver relevant in the fantasy world. Chad Johnson seems the most logical choice to become WR1. However RB Reggie Bush may be the more reliable receiver out of the backfield, but he is not considered a WR in most (if not all) fantasy leagues). My order of preference is Chad Johnson, then Davone Bess.
In the end, this is a team that will struggle to score points on offense. There defense is good enough to keep them in games and the new offense suggests the Dolphins will create at least 550 pass attempts which would be nearly 100 more than last season.
Live analysis during the first two hours of the 2013 NFL Draft.
