The Dolphins got the process right, so why does the outcome feel so hopeless?

Six weeks into the season, hope is once again fading in Miami.

It’s not yet November and the Dolphins season is effectively over – again.

The Dolphins sit at 1-5. They’re battling injuries to some of their top defensive players. Their starting quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, missed three weeks with cracked ribs (the team went 0-3 during that spell). During his return to action against the hapless Jaguars in London last Sunday, Tagovailoa played well. His team still lost, and to a side whose coach ditched his players a fortnight ago. 

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Midway through last season, it looked like the Dolphins may have finally have cracked this whole football thing. They had engaged in what appeared to be a successful tear-down-and-rebuild job. They hoarded first-round draft picks and cap space like a squirrel preparing for winter. They moved on from Minkah Fitzpatrick and Laremy Tunsil, high draft picks with top-five-at-their-position type talent, in the name of culture-culture-culture.

They talked about evolutionary cycles -- of marrying…