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Miami Dolphins camp: Ryan Tannehill, Ndamukong Suh, Rishard Matthews

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The Miami Dolphins head into their 2015 camp with one familiar face now firmly entrenched, a number of new arrivals being counted on to make an immediate impact, and at least one familiar face looking to make an exit. Quarterback Ryan Tannehill has been given a multi year contract extension which ensures he’ll remain in the position for some time. Defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh instantly upgrades the defense. And with mostly new faces at wide receiver, Rishard Matthews wants out.

The impact of Ndamukong Suh will be easy to measure for the Miami Dolphins. He becomes their best defensive player, boosting a line that’s already strong with the likes of Cameron Wake and Olivier Vernon. The plan was to make the front four so strong that the youth and inexperience of the linebackers, and the question marks at defensive back, may end up not mattering.

Ryan Tannehill isn’t so easy to measure. He has improved statistically each of his three years on the job, but gets sacked too often and never has been consistent on the longball. The entire starting wide receiver corps, Mike Wallace, Brian Hartline and Brandon Gibson, has been remade in an effort to better match up with Tannehill’s strengths. But with Kenny Stills, DeVante Parker, and Greg Jennings the new starters, former number four wideout Rishard Matthews has publicly chafed at remaining number four, and the team may end up having to dump him in order to ensure harmony among its new corps. But if Tannehill can keep evolving, and particularly if Ndamukong Suh and the defense can take the heat off, that may not matter.

Miami Dolphins 2015: Ndamukong Suh signing is Joe Philbin’s Hail Mary

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Ndamukong Suh is the difference-maker the Miami Dolphins need to propel them to their first winning season since 2008, or at least head coach Joe Philbin hopes. His three years on the job have produced no postseason appearances and a career losing record, as he’s pushed away many of the team’s talented players because he couldn’t handle their personalities. Now, with his job on the line and no other options, he’s rolling the dice on a personality in Ndamukong Suh that perhaps no NFL coach can fully handle. It’s the proverbial 2015 Hail Mary - but will it pay off?

To be clear, Ndamukong Suh is worth every penny an NFL team wants to pay him. He’s the top defensive lineman in the game, and can single handedly change the course of a game. The Detroit Lions are only allowing him to leave town because no matter how much money they offered him, the Miami Dolphins kept offering even more. But Suh is not without his troubles. He caught national attention when he stomped on Aaron Rodgers while pretending not to see him, and it’s far from his first such incident.

Meanwhile Joe Philbin has a reputation for dumping talented players like Jake Long and Reggie Bush simply because they dared to ask for a preseason meeting with him, while jettisoning troubled personalities like Brandon Marshall without even giving them a chance. Now he’s suddenly willing to take on a player that he certainly doesn’t want, and may not be able to handle. Is this a sign that Philbin knows he’s down to his last shot in Miami and is hoping this Hail Mary will pay off? Or is it a sign that the Dolphins organization has already taken so much power away from the almost-certainly-fired-in-2015 Philbin that the Ndamukong Suh signing is happening over his head? Either way, it’ll make for inevitable drama for Miami, a middle of the pack team which always seems to find controversy of late despite having few interesting players.