'Psychology' of a team: Jordyn Brooks & the Miami Dolphins

How should GMs go about building a team? Everything that happened in Miami should serve as a cautionary tale.

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This is the football lost in 2026 translation. Social-media feeds and daytime television are both so over-flooded with self-appointed film junkies, arbitrary “Top 100” lists and the Rage of the Day that NFL consumers tend to hyperventilate over all the wrong stuff.

There’s so much more to winning and losing.

What we see for 60 minutes on gameday is only one piece of that puzzle.

Take the Miami Dolphins. For a half-decade, this organization seemed to be doing everything right. Their offense revolutionized those X’s and O’s. Mike McDaniel was a breath of fresh air. Tua Time was real. Once again, talent flocked to South Florida. (Hello, Jalen Ramsey.) Beneath the surface, however, the team’s foundation was cracking. Players on this team offered a scathing peek behind the curtain in our latest season-preview feature.

“We didn’t fight for each other on the field,” one ex-Dolphin told me. “We just didn’t give a fuck. Offense didn’t care about the defense. Defense didn’t care about the offense. That’s how it went. I stopped giving a fuck.”

The reason — this player explained — is that there’s a true “psychology” to the sport most people don’t understand.

Teammates didn’t hang out together. Teammates didn’t dine together. There was zero camaraderie.

Players strolled into meetings late, if at all.

True bonds were never formed. Accountability was nonexistent. When a few highly compensated vets started bringing their cell phones right to walkthroughs, rookies soon followed. Bad habits became contagious. The closer you look, the more you see why the new Dolphins regime is OK with 60 percent of this season’s payroll allotted to players who won’t play a snap. The problems ran deep.

These 22 players colliding into each other have heads and hearts. They’re not robots. If you’re not truly fighting for the player next to you? Expect problems. Expect that schism to manifest on the field. (Ex-Eagles running back Brian Westbrook made the same point looking back at the McNabb-TO controversy.) If you’re treating the profession like a job and not an obsession? Expect players to coast when the going gets tough.

The concurrent arcs of Jordyn Brooks and these Dolphins explain so much about any team trying to build a winning culture today.

This is a kid who grew up on NFL Films. He’s been obsessed with the sport forever.

The linebacker opened up on how he plans to change everything.

Subscribers can read our look at the psychology of a team trying to create something new:

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A few themes in the story.

Be sure to read in full for more.

Texas Tech Revelation.

Brooks is thankful he siphoned all hard partying out of his system in college. NFL teams don’t supply this level of grace to players. One conversation with new DC Keith Patterson changed everything.

“There was no more time. You had your fun. It’s now or never.”

A brother’s death and perspective.

His life could’ve spiraled a completely different direction. Phone calls from Texas are always chilling. When Brooks was in college, one brother called to say their other brother had been shot and killed. All of it gave him more clarity — stay on this path.

Without fail, each year, Brooks hears about another childhood friend who’s been killed. The decision at age 13 and 14 is simple.

“I’ve seen it — with my own eyes — people’s paths and life go totally left. And I played with plenty of guys who had great talent that should have been in the league. That humbles you if you look at it the right way and realize like, ‘Man, you know what? This is why I never take one day that I’m here for granted.’ I’ll never have the mindset like, ‘Oh no, I belong here. I deserve to be here.’ No, I’m lucky to be here. I’m lucky to be here and one day I’ll be gone. I’m going to appreciate every day that I am here because I’ve seen it for myself. Some people didn’t make it to the next day in life — literally.”

Torn ACL.

The timing could not have been any worse. In Seattle, Brooks wrecked his knee into the final year of his rookie contract.

He faced a choice.

“A horrible moment turned into a great moment.”

Candor.

As Miami’s 2024 season fell apart — and the Dolphins were embarrassed on Thanksgiving Night — Brooks called his team “soft.” He was correct.

“Be honest. Be honest. Call it for what it is, in hopes that we’ll change it. Not to stir up anger in people but to create a sense of urgency to get it better. That’s my leadership style. That’s how I try to lead. Whenever I need to speak, I’ll speak. But the main thing is live it out first. So whenever I do speak, nobody’s looking at me crazy for speaking. Live and embody whatever you’re preaching. Live that part out first. That’s the biggest thing I learned. Playing with other guys in my career is like, ‘Man, some dudes say they’re leaders, but they’re not really doing what they talk about.’ So it’s hard for me to listen to them. It’s hard for me to respect it. I never, ever want to be that guy.”

Leadership.

The “C” on the chest of captains didn’t mean much. Sources explain in detail how these Dolphins went completely off the rails, racking up $200K in fines by Week 6 of a football season.

By 2025, Brooks started taking charge. We spoke at length about how he plans to change the psychology of these Dolphins. It won’t be easy, but that’s the point.

“It came to a point where I realized, ‘OK, some of these guys aren’t serious about this, and we are suffering behind it. I can’t just sit here and just let it go by.’ Showing up late to meetings. Not buying into what we’re trying to do. We play football. If enough guys are not all the way locked in, we’re going to suffer. Basketball team, 15 guys, it’s a lot easier to get everybody to buy in. Whoever isn’t bought in is going to stick out like a sore thumb. But it’s easier to hide when it’s 50, 60 guys.”

“My true value is to be a leader of men. We’ve got a bunch of rookies. I’ve got a lot of knowledge that I can give them through my own experience that can help them be more successful. That’s my true value. … I went through all those lows for these moments.”

“It’s a challenge. It’s exhausting at times. But I always tell God I embrace the role because as men, period, that’s what God has called us to be. We all have different jobs and different roles. But every man is called to be a leader in some shape or form. If you have kids, your job, whatever role it is — you’re meant to lead something. That’s how God knitted us.”

What’s next

Lucrative deals to superstars didn’t pan out for Miami.

He sees no reason why the ‘26 Dolphins cannot take everyone by surprise.

Brooks is high on quarterback Malik Willis and new Texas Tech running mate Jacob Rodriguez.

“A lot of people on the outside are going to look at our team and be like, ‘Yeah, 0-17.’ But me? When you’re in it, it’s different. You never have that mindset. I understand why people would say the things they say. ‘How many stars do they have? Proven guys?’ We ain’t got a lot of them. But we tried that and it didn’t work. To me, this is exactly what we need. Whatever the vision is, I’m all-in. The best teams win. Not the best players.”

“We become a team? The sky’s the limit. We can do anything we want to do. I don’t care if we have no superstars.”

Go Long subscribers can access “Jordyn Brooks is the captain now” in full.

We also profiled another player central to the changes in Miami: Aaron Brewer.

Our season preview features will run right up to kickoff.

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Also: I joined Kyle Crabbs over at Locked On Dolphins for a chat on our stories.

Here’s the replay if you’d like to check it out: