2018 Miami Dolphins season

The 2018 season was the Miami Dolphins' 49th in the National Football League, their 53rd overall and their third and last under head coach Adam Gase. 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 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 champion New England Patriots season|New England Patriots], 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

Position	Player	Age	2017 Team	Contract
WR	Danny Amendola	32	New England Patriots	2 years, $12 million
RB	Brandon Bolden	28	New England Patriots	1 year, $850,000
RB	Frank Gore	35	Indianapolis Colts	1 year, $1.015 million
QB	Brock Osweiler	27	Denver Broncos	1 year, $880,000
G	Josh Sitton	31	Chicago Bears	2 years, $18 million
WR	Albert Wilson	25	Kansas City Chiefs	3 years, $24 million

Departures

Position	Player	Age	2018 Team	Contract
DT	Ndamukong Suh	31	Los Angeles Rams	1 year, $14 million
C	Mike Pouncey	29	Los Angeles Chargers	2 years, $15 million

Draft

Round	Selection	Player	Position	College	Notes
1	11	Minkah Fitzpatrick	FS	Alabama
2	42	Mike Gesicki	TE	Penn State
3	73	Jerome Baker	OLB	Ohio State
4	123	Durham Smythe	TE	Notre Dame	From Carolina Panthers season\|Carolina] via Cleveland Browns season\|Cleveland]
4	131	Kalen Ballage	HB	Arizona State	From New England Patriots season\|New England] via Philadelphia Eagles season\|Philadelphia]
6	209	Cornell Armstrong	CB	Southern Miss	From Kansas City
7	227	Quentin Poling	LB	Ohio	From San Francisco 49ers season\|San Francisco]
7	229	Jason Sanders	K	New Mexico

Draft trades

The Dolphins traded wide receiver Jarvis Landry to Cleveland in exchange for Cleveland's fourth-round selection they acquired from Carolina, and a 2019 7th round pick Cleveland originally acquired from Pittsburgh.
The Dolphins traded running back Jay Ajayi to Philadelphia in exchange for Philadelphia's fourth-round selection they acquired from New England.
The Dolphins traded their fifth-round selection to New Orleans in exchange for linebacker Stephone Anthony.
The Dolphins traded the seventh-round selection they acquired from Tampa Bay to San Francisco in exchange for San Francisco's seventh-round selection and center Daniel Kilgore.

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 in 1970. Coincidentally, wide receiver Danny Amendola met with former teammates Malcolm Butler and Dion Lewis. The three played for the New England Patriots from 2015 to 2017 and helped them win Super Bowl LI over the Atlanta Falcons.

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, during the Dan Marino era and Don Shula's final year as the Dolphins' head coach.

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 13: vs. Buffalo Bills

With the win the Dolphins improved to 6-6. However this would turn out to be their last win over Buffalo until 2022.

Week 15: at Minnesota Vikings

This was the Dolphins' first loss to the Vikings since 2002.

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 Ryan Tannehill, linebacker Cameron Wake, and head coach Adam Gase all in Dolphins uniforms.