The 2018 season was the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

' 49th in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

, their 53rd overall and their third and last under

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

Adam Gase Adam Joseph Gase (born March 29, 1978) is a former American football coach in the National Football League (NFL). He came to prominence as the offensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos from 2013 to 2014, whose offense set the NFL record for ...

. During the offseason, the Dolphins tweaked their uniforms' orange color to better align with their classical past and history. For the second straight season, they also brought back their throwback uniforms from the Shula/ Marino eras and wore them for three games. With quarterback

Ryan Tannehill Ryan Timothy Tannehill III (born July 27, 1988) is an American football quarterback for the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Texas A&M, where he was a wide receiver until his junior year, an ...

playing for the first time since

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

, the highlight of the Dolphins' season came during a memorable Week 14 win against division rival and defending back-to-back AFC champion

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

, which prevented the Patriots from clinching the AFC East that week. However, the Dolphins would lose all of their remaining games and missed the playoffs for the second consecutive year. The 7–9 finish was also the team's second consecutive losing season, with all 7 wins decided by one possession scores.

Roster changes

Signings

Departures

Draft

Draft trades *The Dolphins traded wide receiver

Jarvis Landry Jarvis Charles Landry (born November 28, 1992) is an American football wide receiver for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at LSU and was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the second round o ...

to Cleveland in exchange for Cleveland's fourth-round selection they acquired from Carolina (123rd overall), and a 2019 7th round pick Cleveland originally acquired from Pittsburgh. *The Dolphins traded running back

Jay Ajayi Jay Ajayi (born 15 June 1993) is a former American football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) and professional ''FIFA'' esports player. He played five seasons with the Miami Dolphins and Philadelphia Eagles. He play ...

to Philadelphia in exchange for Philadelphia's fourth-round selection they acquired from New England (131st overall). *The Dolphins traded their fifth-round selection (147th overall) to New Orleans in exchange for linebacker

Stephone Anthony Stephone Anthony (born July 28, 1992) is a former American football linebacker and current coach. He played college football at Clemson. Early years A native of Polkton, North Carolina, Anthony attended Anson High School, where he was a four- ...

. *The Dolphins traded the seventh-round selection they acquired from Tampa Bay (223rd overall) to San Francisco in exchange for San Francisco's seventh-round selection (227th overall) and center Daniel Kilgore.

Staff

Final roster

Preseason

Regular season

The Dolphins' 2018 schedule was finalized and announced on April 19.

Schedule

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 1: vs. Tennessee Titans

Due to two weather delays, the game lasted for 7 hours and 10 minutes, the longest game since the

AFL–NFL merger The AFL–NFL merger was the merger of the two major professional American football leagues in the United States at the time: the National Football League (NFL) and the American Football League (AFL). It paved the way for the combined league, w ...

in 1970. Coincidentally, wide receiver

Danny Amendola Daniel James Amendola (born November 2, 1985) is a former American football wide receiver. He played college football at Texas Tech. He was signed by the Dallas Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 2008. After spending his entire rookie season ...

met with former teammates Malcolm Butler and

Dion Lewis Dion John Lewis (born September 27, 1990) is a former American football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons. He played college football at the University of Pittsburgh and was drafted by the Philadelphia ...

. The three played for the New England Patriots from 2015 to 2018 and helped them win

Super Bowl LI Super Bowl LI was an American football game played at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, on February 5, 2017, to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2016 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion New ...

over the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

Week 2: at New York Jets

Week 3: vs. Oakland Raiders

With the win, the Dolphins improved to 3–0, their first such start since 2013.

Week 4: at New England Patriots

With their first loss of the season, the Dolphins failed to earn their first 4–0 start since

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

, during the

Dan Marino Daniel Constantine Marino Jr. (born September 15, 1961) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons with the Miami Dolphins. After a successful college career at Pittsburgh and be ...

era and Don Shula's final year as the Dolphins' head coach.

Week 5: at Cincinnati Bengals

Week 6: vs. Chicago Bears

A last-second field goal kick by Jason Saunders barely averted a tie and gave the Dolphins the win in overtime.

Week 7: vs. Detroit Lions

The Dolphins were seeking their first win over the Lions since

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

Week 8: at Houston Texans

Week 9: vs. New York Jets

Week 10: at Green Bay Packers

Week 12: at Indianapolis Colts

Week 13: vs. Buffalo Bills

Week 14: vs. New England Patriots

Week 15: at Minnesota Vikings

This was the Dolphins' first loss to the Vikings since

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

Week 16: vs. Jacksonville Jaguars

With the loss, the Dolphins were eliminated from playoff contention.

Week 17: at Buffalo Bills

This season finale marked the final games of players such as quarterback

, linebacker Cameron Wake, and head coach

all in Dolphins uniforms.

Standings

Division

Conference

References

External links

* {{2018 NFL season by team

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

Miami Dolphins seasons