After a season to forget in Miami, new head coach Adam Gase is hopeful he can guide the Dolphins to their first playoff appearance since 2008 and their first playoff win since 2000.

By Greg DePalma, PSN Executive Producer

Miami Dolphins (6-10)

SB Futures: 50-1

FORMER

Last season was one to forget in the annals of Miami Dolphins football. Their over-matched head coach Joe Philbin was fired after an embarrassing loss in Europe to the rival NY Jets which put them in a 1-3 hole early.

The move seemed to light a fire, at least temporarily, as they beat their next two opponents by a combined 82-36. It was mostly downhill from there though as the Dolphins have now gone seven seasons without a playoff berth and 15 without a playoff win. Coincidentally that was just one year after the great Dan Marino decided to hang-up his cleats in Miami. And that's just about how long Miami fans have been searching for a franchise player to be proud of.

CURRENT

While Miami fans continue to wait for that franchise player, they are also growing tired of waiting for a coach capable of leading them to respectability on the sidelines.

When the great Don Shula left after the '95 season, Jimmy Johnson returned to his roots in an attempt to re-energize the franchise. JJ did take the Dolphins to the post-season in three of his four seasons, but he could never quite recapture that championship magic from his days in Dallas or in Miami with the Hurricanes. When Johnson retired, Miami fans could probably never have imagined how bad things were about to get.

All these years later and not since Nick Saban was hired in '05 has the base been this excited about the possibilities with the hiring of Adam Gase.

Gase, a former offensive coordinator, has looked the part recently with both Chicago and Denver, but Jay Cutler and Peyton Manning were already proven quarterbacks by the time he took over. Also, don't forget that Philbin looked ready for primetime as the offensive coordinator for Green Bay when the Packers won their most recent Super Bowl in 2010. Philbin coached another proven quarterback in Aaron Rodgers. My point is that just because a coach can look good as part of a staff with Hall Of Fame QBs like Manning and Rodgers doesn't mean he'll be great as the leader of one with Ryan Tannehill.

The top priority for Gase will be to get his $100 million dollar quarterback to earn every dollar. If Gase can work magic with Tannehill then the rest of the pieces are in place for a playoff season. The Dolphins have some young exciting skill position players including WR Jarvis Landry. But the next step is to scare the opposition with a credible deep passing attack which has sorely lacked under Tannehill. The Mike Wallace experiment failed so it's up to second-year WR DeVante Parker and promising rookie WR Leonte Carroo to open up the field. Parker averaged 19 yards on his 26 receptions as a rookie while Carroo averaged over 19.5 yards on his 122 receptions during his college career at Rutgers.

The running game must also take up some slack with Lamar Miller departing for Houston. Miami is gambling on injury-prone players in second-year back Jay Ajayi and free agent acquisition Arian Foster. Ajayi rushed for over 3,700 yards with 50 TDs in college but missed his first seven games last year with a preseason rib injury. He also tore his ACL in 2011 and injured his knee just last week. Foster of course missed most of last season with a torn ACL in Houston.

On defense, the return of Cameron Wake from a season-ending Achilles injury will be crucial. If Wake returns close to form along with newly acquired free agent defensive end Mario Williams on the outside and the elite Ndamukong Suh on the inside, Miami will have a formidable unit up-front.

Former first-round pick Dion Jordan also returns from a one-year suspension. If the Dolphins can get anything out of Jordan, even if it comes mostly on special teams where he came up big on several occasions in 2014, Miami will be much better off.

I know we're beating a dead horse here, but the health of MLB Kiko Alonso is also critical to the success of their defense. Alonso looked like a future NFL star after a great rookie season before multiple knee injuries derailed his time in Buffalo and Philadelphia. This season could define both his pro career and the playoff hopes for Miami.

The secondary has big questions at cornerback, but the safety duo of Reshad Jones and newly acquired free agent Isa Abdul-Quddus will be one of the most underrated in the league.

CONCLUSION

If rookie first-round pick Laremy Tunsil can be the difference-maker that the offensive line desperately needs inside at guard and QB Ryan Tannehill has his breakout season under