Omar Kelly: Dolphins could be facing a leadership crisis in 2025

MIAMI — A young, talented rookie was losing confidence when two aged veterans stepped in to help save his season.

Chop Robinson was pressing as a sackless rookie edge rusher. The 2024 first-round pick was struggling to get snaps and set the edge for a pass rush-starved Miami Dolphins team that was playing without Jaelan Phillips and Bradley Chubb early last season.

Calais Campbell and Terron Armstead each put an arm around the rookie and provided weekly coaching and mentor sessions, on and off the field. They would go over his film and work with him after practice individually, and consistently shower him with praise. Those chats kept Robinson uplifted, and he eventually had his breakthrough and became a top rookie performer.

Neither team captain was asked to take Robinson under his wing. They just knew it was the right thing to do for the good of the team.

Those types of leaders are hard to find, and even more difficult to replace, in my humble opinion. That’s coach Mike McDaniel’s greatest challenge for this upcoming season because the leadership his 2025 team cultivates will either hold this upcoming season together when times get tough, or they will let go of the rope.

And once the rope is let go by the leader everyone else will follow, and there will be no saving this regime, or this rebuild.

That’s what cost Joe Philbin his job as head coach the first month of the 2015 season. Players let go of the rope, and it motivated owner Steve Ross to hand the team to Dan Campbell as Miami’s interim coach four games into that season.

Joey Porter called Cam Cameron out in a November team meeting for being incompetent midway through Miami’s 1-15 season back in the 2007 season. That incident inspired Wayne H. Huizenga to pursue Bill Parcells’ services, and Miami eventually flushed Cameron and his staff after just one season.

I’m neither predicting, nor forecasting that this will be McDaniel’s fate. It’s too early for that. This roster is still being assembled.

McDaniel has proven that he can coach the past three seasons. But he has also leaned heavily on his team’s leadership, and at the moment, with Armstead announcing he’s retiring after playing 12 seasons, and with Campbell joining the Arizona Cardinals, which gave him more money (a max value of $7.5 million) than Miami was willing to offer, there’s a massive leadership void on Miami’s roster.

And this isn’t just about Armstead and Campbell’s departure.

Raheem Mostert and Anthony Walker Jr. also filled important leadership roles with the Dolphins, and now all four leaders are gone.

We can also throw safeties Jordan Poyer and Jevon Holland, who was appointed a Dolphins captain in 2023 by his teammates, on that pile.

That’s why the biggest non-personnel question I have about the 2025 Dolphins is who will fill the voids those departures create?

Quarterbacks are forced to be leaders, and some are better at it than others.

Nobody has ever questioned Tua Tagovailoa’s ability as a leader. Tagovailoa has a better command of the team than Chad Henne and Ryan Tannehill, two former Dolphins starters, ever did.

But if we’re being honest, he hasn’t reached the Chad Pennington or Ryan Fitzpatrick level yet becoming the Pied Piper of the locker room.

Those quarterbacks had a command over their teammates that was unwavering, and even maintained it when they were each made backups.

Expect Tagovailoa to carry his fair share of the leadership chores, but quarterbacks already have enough on their plate, so hoping that Tagovailoa also polices the locker room like Armstead and Campbell did is unrealistic.

There’s a fine line that position has to walk as an extension of the coaching staff. That needs to be Tagovailoa’s focus.

Mostert, who signed with the Las Vegas Raiders after Miami released him in February, poured every ounce of what he knew about the NFL into De’Von Achane knowing that the 2023 third-round pick would eventually replace him as Miami’s starter. And Mostert did so while producing a Pro Bowl season in 2023, Achane’s rookie year.

Is Achane ready to handle all of Mostert’s workload, not just the carries?

There’s room for growth there, and we can see tight end Jonnu Smith, Phillips and Chubb having more put on their plate.

Tyreek Hill’s Miami’s best player, but his limited maturity will always exclude him from the leadership conversation, and that’s fine.

How often do Cheetah’s change their spots?

Let’s not lie to ourselves and claim Hill’s going to grow up any time soon.

Some players are about themselves, and that’s understandable. This isn’t new to the NFL, or the Dolphins.

However, good leadership prevents a spark from becoming a forest fire, which was the case with Hill on many occasions last season.

But Hill has to respect the people calling him out for this to work.

Jalen Ramsey has that respect, but the elite cornerback is all dawg.

Plenty of bark, and bite. But sometimes dawgs bite their owners too, which explains why everyone in the organization — including McDaniel — walks on eggshells around Ramsey.

Ramsey’s definitely a tone-setter on this team. But the Dolphins need a lion to lead, and they need that leadership to show up for the offseason program.

Unfortunately, Ramsey hasn’t proven that he cares about anyone or anything but himself (which is fine too).

Zach Sieler and other teammates openly talk about Campbell showing them how to lead, telling them what to say to their teammates at those moments where something needs to be said and there’s silence.

Jordyn Brooks, who has a quiet nature, said what needed to be said after Miami’s 30-17 loss to the Green Bay Packers when he basically called his teammates out for being soft based on how the Dolphins performed in that game.

Those comments weren’t popular, but they needed to be said publicly for the Dolphins to take a long, deep look at themselves in the mirror.

But this isn’t just about what you say. It’s also about what you do, how you do it, and whether others are willing to follow.

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