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 pl ...

' 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 ma ...

, 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 Coach (sport), coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manage ...

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 fo ...

. 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, ...

playing for the first time since 2016, the highlight of the Dolphins' season came during a memorable Week 14 win against division rival and defending back-to-back

AFC AFC may stand for: Organizations * Action for Children, a UK children's charity * AFC Enterprises, the franchisor of Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits * Africa Finance Corporation, a pan-African multilateral development finance institution * A ...

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 ...

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 Tigers football, Clemson. Early years A native of Polkton, North Carolina, Anthony attended Anson High Schoo ...

. *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, ...

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 seas ...

met with former teammates

Malcolm Butler Malcolm Terel Butler (born March 2, 1990) is an American football cornerback who is a free agent. He played his first four seasons with the Patriots, who signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2014. After leaving New England, he was a member ...

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 Ne ...

over the Atlanta Falcons.

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 acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...

, 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 b ...

era and

Don Shula Donald Francis Shula (January 4, 1930 – May 4, 2020) was an American football defensive back and coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) from 1963 to 1995. The head coach of the Miami Dolphins for most of his c ...

'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.

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 independence from Indonesia and ...

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 Derek Cameron Wake (born January 30, 1982) is a former American football defensive end and outside linebacker. He played college football for Penn State University, and was signed by the New York Giants as an undrafted free agent in 2005. 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 coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...

Miami Dolphins seasons