MIAMI — The AFC East quarterbacks the Miami Dolphins will face this coming season are the reigning NFL MVP in Josh Allen of the Bills, a rising star off a Pro Bowl rookie season in Drake Maye of the Patriots and dual-threat guy just coming into his prime in new Jets starter Justin Fields.

Can you name the Dolphins starting cornerbacks tasked with stopping those three?

Correct answer: Might Be Him and We’re Not Sure.

A cornerback room filled with more questions than answers is a main reason the betting odds and the consensus of football literati look gloomily upon Miami‘s 2025 outlook coming off a desultory 8-9 season. And why, by extension, the heat is on coach Mike McDaniel and general manager Chris Grier like never before.

They are trying to fix a broken team “culture” — always an easy catchall to explain failure — and end a league-worst streak of no playoff wins entering its 25th season.

With the start of training camp two weeks away, the Fins’ two starting corners via the team’s depth chart are John Marshall Jr., a rookie fifth-round draft pick, and the splendidly named but lightly proven Storm Duck, an undrafted 2024 free agent with three carer NFL starts.

One suspects nickelback Kader Kohou will wind up outside by dire necessity.

Either way, the team is woefully light in proven talent at stopping the pass. Trading star corner Jalen Ramsey in late June to Pittsburgh left an unfilled crater. Reuniting with proven safety Minkah Fitzpatrick in return for Ramsey helps Miami’s secondary at another position of need, but doesn’t erase the dilemma at corner.

All of this, on the eve of camp, makes relevant the current drama involving why they traded Ramsey in the first place and the availability of proven Los Angeles Chargers free agent corner Asante Samuel Jr.

The names were intertwined in the podcast of Samuel’s father, Asante Samuel Sr., who enjoyed a notable four-time Pro Bowl career at the position that his son has not (yet) matched.

Dad hosts the ‘Say What Needs To Be Said’ podcast.The Dolphins might call it ‘Wish He Hadn’t Said It.’

“The Dolphins had no reason to trade Jalen Ramsey other than they’re sensitive, there’s no leadership in the Dolphins organization,” Samuel said. “Mike McDaniel is a pushover. Chris Grier, the general manager, he has no backbone. These guys, the Miami Dolphins, they are running this team like a little league team. No one can stand up to the players. They are terrified of their own players and they have no control over their players.”

The reference is to Miami trading the All-Pro CB Ramsey along with tight end Jonnu Smith and a 2027 seventh-round pick, to the Steelers for Fitzpatrick and a ‘27 fifth-rounder.

The departed Smith said he needed to go where he was “appreciated.” Fellow departed Fin Raheem Mostert, the running back, volleyed a shot at his ex-team, writing, “Hot take: Be a Pro-bowler [sic] on the Dolphins, get treated like [expletive].”

More piling on on the culture thing even before the missiles fired from Samuel’s podcast.

Whether Samuel’s rant reflects reality or merely perception, either or both are why the culture makeover is underway.

But there is lots to unpack here in what he said.

The truth: the Dolphins did have a reason to trade Ramsey. They felt he wanted out and behaved in a way last season that left them little choice but to shop him. Ramsey reportedly was routinely late for team practices and openly disrespected McDaniel, Grier and former defensive coordinator Vic Fangio in front of teammates.

In other words, if the “culture” broke, Ramsey was a key culprit.

But what of this salvo coming from the father of a player Miami has considered signing to help its cornerback need?

Could it be bitterness from Dad because the Dolphins reportedly explored signing Samuel Jr. in May and nothing came of it? Or might Miami still be discussing Samuel Jr. as an answer only to have Dad likely damage if not erase the chances of that happening? We’ll see.

The fact is, this close to training camp, most of the best cornerback free-agent options are long gone. Samuel is the second best still available on most free-agency boards, though he is a sloppy tackler (22.2% miss rate), missed most of last season with a shoulder injury and is recovering from April neck surgery that figures to shelve him much of training camp.

The best choices left are Samuel and Bills free agent Rasul Douglas, who is capable but turns 30 in August, his best days ebbing.

Whether Miami stands pat and rolls dice with a thin cornerback room or makes a late run Douglas will say much about whether the team remains in win-now mode or is conceding and quietly lapsing into a rebuild.

Meantime what’s clearest in the murky cornerback situation is:

Ramsey — not unlike a star of similar wattage in Jimmy Butler of the Heat — pretty much sulked and unprofessionally forced his way out of town. And from a podcast mic the father of available Asante Samuel Jr. sent enough shrapnel flying at Miami to likely end any possibility of a deal.

Bottom line: The Dolphins seem set to enter this season weak at a position that demands strength, and it could be what ends up getting a head coach and a GM fired.

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