Fantasy football team preview: Miami Dolphins

Ten teams won 10 or more games last season. The Dolphins were one of them and will look to build on that success this season. Adam Gase is back for his second season at head coach with Clyde Christensen remaining at offensive coordinator. The Dolphins run an Erhardt-Perkins offense with its emphasis on running similar plays out of different formations or with different personnel. The run game relied heavily on zone blocking last season with nearly three-quarters of run plays using either inside or outside zone.

Quarterback

Now entering his sixth professional season, Ryan Tannehill has yet to put together fantasy consistency in his career with a breakout always seemingly just outside his reach. Tannehill managed a top-10 fantasy finish in 2014, but has since ranked 17th in 2015 and 25th last season. To be fair, he did miss three games last year, but he only posted three top-10 fantasy finishes in his 13 games played. To his credit, Tannehill posted a career-best completion percentage (67.1 percent). Still, for him to be a viable fantasy option, we’ll need to see Tannehill take a step forward in his yardage and touchdown productivity. As it stands, he should be considered a back-end QB2 at best.

Running back

Three. That’s how many times Jay Ajayi rushed for 200-plus yards last season. His remarkable outburst was one of the most unexpected performances of the 2016 NFL season. Ajayi finished the year 12th among running backs in fantasy scoring, but didn’t take over as the starter until Week 5. From that point on, he ranked second in both rushing attempts (242) and rushing yards (1,197). With the expectation that Ajayi could see a bigger workload this season, he’s poised to take another step forward for fantasy purposes. He’s one of the most likely candidates to break into the top three fantasy running backs.

Behind Ajayi, the Dolphins have Damien Williams and Kenyan Drake. Williams hasn’t been used heavily on the ground with just 87 carries in his three seasons in Miami. But he has managed to catch at least 20 balls in all three years. Drake is perhaps more interesting for fantasy purposes following offseason chatter that the Dolphins want to get him more involved this season. Drake only touched the 41 times last year, but the former Alabama back flashed explosive upside and racked and averaged 5.4 yards per carry.

Wide receivers

Jarvis Landry leads the Dolphins wide receiver corps, but remember that he’s primarily a slot receiver. The fourth-year man is coming off his second 1,000-yard season, and has seen a whopping 382 targets over the last three seasons. Perhaps the biggest issue with Landry from a fantasy perspective is his lack of touchdown productivity. He’s found the end zone just 13 times in his pro career. That lack of pay dirt keeps Landry in the WR2 range, which is where he finished last season.

After Landry, the Dolphins has the duo of DeVante Parker and Kenny Stills. Of the two, Parker is the better bet to be on the field in two-wide sets, thought it should be noted that the Dolphins did run the second-most three-wide sets last season. Parker took a step forward last season, but has yet to truly break out. He caught 56 balls on 86 targets for 744 yards and four scores in 2016, and ranked 50th among wideouts in fantasy scoring. The good news is he was used heavily in the red zone with 24 targets and 10 end-zone targets. Landry saw seven fewer red-zone targets and was targeted in the end zone just one time. Parker’s red-zone usage and upside makes him an intriguing upside pick at wide receiver.

Stills was a big-play dynamo in 2016 with eight of his nine receiving touchdowns coming on targets of 20-plus yards in the air and four of them going for 40-plus yards. He was a surprise WR3 finisher in both standard and PPR formats. However, touchdowns tend to regress to the mean, and Stills’ volume doesn’t bode favorably for consistent fantasy production. If he doesn’t earn the No. 2 job, Stills should only be considered in deep leagues and as a DFS option this season.

We’ll see if second-year man Leonte Carroo gets more action this season. The former third-rounder was wildly productive at Rutgers, but struggled to get on the field last season. He ended up running just 67 routes in 10 games played and finished with three catches on six targets. Carroo is still a hold in dynasty leagues, but he’s a long-shot to surface on the red-draft radar this year.

Tight end

The Dolphins acquired Julius Thomas this offseason, reuniting the veteran tight end with Adam Gase. Thomas excelled under Gase in Denver, scoring 12 touchdowns in 2013 and 2014. His numbers declined over the last two seasons in Jacksonville, but he did manage to post four top-10 fantasy weeks in nine games player in 2016. The Dolphins plan to get Thomas involved with OC Clyde Christensen calling him a “10-touchdown guy.” That’s a lofty number, but Thomas offers a solid floor provided he stays healthy this season. Thomas should be considered a TE2 with back-end TE1 potential