The Miami Dolphins joined the American professional football league in 1966. Initially, they played as part of the AFL before the two big leagues merged five years later. Following the merger, the Miami Dolphins featured in the AFC East Division, which is where they remain even today.
The 1970 move coincided with the appointment of Head Coach Don Shula, who remained with the franchise for the next 25 years.
Under Shula’s tutelage, the Miami Dolphins cobbled together the NFL’s first, and to date, the only perfect season in 1972.
Following Shula’s departure, the team’s stock dwindled from the lofty heights that were synonymous with them. Despite a decline, the Dolphins are the only team to deny Tom Brady’s New England Patriots the divisional title. They achieved the honor in 2008.
In 2019, under Head Coach Brian Flores, the franchise finished rock bottom in the AFC East with a 5-11 record.
Despite their showing, they could not secure the top draft pick for the fourth time in franchise history.
The Miami Dolphins held the top-draft pick three times. The first occasion was in the 1966 AFL draft where they drafted Illinois’ Running Back, Jim Grabowski. However, he opted to ply his trade in the NFL.
The second top-draft pick headed to Miami 42 years later in the 2008 NFL season. Here they added Michigan’s Offensive Tackle, Jake Long, to their roster.
Joe Robbie served as the original owner and founder of the team till 1990. Currently, the team owner is Stephen M. Ross. He purchased a majority of the franchise during the 2009 NFL season. At the time, he owned 95% of the team.
Miami Dolphins have won the divisional championship on 13 occasions. In five of those seasons, the franchise claimed the conference title. Furthermore, they hold a 2-3 Super Bowl record and are one of just eight teams to win the season-ending game in consecutive seasons.
Two players have won the NFL MVP award as part of the Miami Dolphins. They are Safety Jake Scott for the 1973 NFL season and Running Back Larry Csonka for the 1974 NFL season.
The Miami Dolphins made their first logo with a dolphin. In the original versions of the logo, a helmet-clad dolphin was seen leaping out of the water. It was framed with the sun at its back.
The logo embraced Miami’s coastline and thriving aquatic life. Over the years, the franchise retained the core elements with a few tweaks.
In 1997, the Miami Dolphins made the dolphin prominent and focused on sharper rays of the sun.
Ahead of their forty-eighth season, the Miami Dolphins changed things around. They introduced a new logo. Here the dolphin was seen without a helmet and was swimming in preparation to leap out of the water.
Ahead of the 2018 NFL season, the franchise tweaked their logo yet again. The navy blue infusion lasted just five seasons, while the designers darkened the color of the sun.
The Miami Dolphins have a 53-player roster for the 2020 NFL season. This comprises two quarterbacks, five running backs, seven wide receivers, three tight ends, nine offensive linemen, six defensive linemen, eight linebackers, ten defensive backs, and three special team players.
| Quarterbacks | 14 Ryan Fitzpatrick 1 Tua Tagovailoa |
| Running Backs | 22 Matt Breida 27 Chandler Cox FB/TE 37 Myles Gaskin 34 Jordan Howard 32 Patrick Laird |
| Wide Receivers | 15 Lynn Bowden 84 Isaiah Ford 19 Jakeem Grant KR/PR 86 Mack Hollins 11 DeVante Parker 10 Malcolm Perry 18 Preston Williams |
| Tight Ends | 8 Mike Gesicki 80 Adam Shaheen 81 Durham Smythe |
| Offensive linemen | 70 Julién Davenport T 77 Jesse Davis T 68 Robert Hunt T 73 Austin Jackson T 63 Michael Deiter C 67 Ted Karras C 75 Ereck Flowers G 66 Solomon Kindley G 78 Adam Pankey G |
| Defensive linemen | 98 Raekwon Davis NT 56 Davon Godchaux NT 91 Emmanuel Ogbah DE 92 Zach Sieler DE 58 Jason Strowbridge DE 94 Christian Wilkins DE/FB |
| linebackers | 55 Jerome Baker ILB 48 Calvin Munson ILB 44 Elandon Roberts ILB/FB 51 Kamu Grugier-Hill ILB 49 Samuel Eguavoen OLB 90 Shaq Lawson OLB 43 Andrew Van Ginkel OLB 53 Kyle Van Noy OLB |
| Defensive backs | 42 Clayton Fejedelem SS 21 Eric Rowe SS 35 Kavon Frazier FS 28 Bobby McCain FS 29 Brandon Jones FS 25 Xavien Howard CB 23 Noah Igbinoghene CB 24 Byron Jones CB 40 Nik Needham CB 33 Jamal Perry CB |
| Special teams | 50 Blake Ferguson LS 2 Matt Haack P/H 7 Jason Sanders K |
| Founded | 1965 |
| President | Tom Garfinkel |
| Conference | AFC |
| Division | East |
| Head Coach | Brian Flores |
| Location/Stadium | Hard Rock Stadium |
| Championships | AFC East 13 (1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1992, 1994, 2000, 2008) AFC 5 (1971, 1972, 1973, 1982, 1984) |
| Super Bowl | 2 (1972, 1973) |
| Official website | Website |
| Mascot | TD |