Thanks you all for coming out to the 2021 #MetLifeTakeover. What an absolute blast! From the party at Slattery’s to the tailgate to the Dolphins play on the field everything went off without a hitch. Despite a slightly less than normal turnout (the team’s record, the pandemic and the Jets only selling us 700 tickets didn’t help) we still had one of our most successful years. Thanks to you guys we raised over $6000 for charity between raffle, auction and merch sales. And that doesn’t even include the money we made off the tickets sold. That money is going back into our war chest to make new merch, raffle prizes and other expenses for next season, but it will all eventually be turned into even more money that we can use to do more good. The merch/raffle/auction money will be going to the Miami Dolphins Foundation, The Dolphins Cancer Challenge and the Jason Taylor Foundation.

So here’s a quick breakdown on the weekend. On Saturday night we had a great crowd at our bar Slattery’s Midtown Pub. We had DJ Syckturtle spin both that night and the tailgate the next day. We had a live auction that raised over $1000 on just three items and we had a big raffle as well for a bunch of great signed stuff. One of our members even brought a team signed ball from the Philbin era that had some great signatures on it despite how we may feel about those years. Another one of our members donated a Marino jersey that raised $275 in the live auction. Special shout out to Robert who bought it AND the Christian Wilkins signed jersey for $500!

One of the coolest parts of Saturday night, and the tailgate, was that the Miami Dolphins entire podcast network came out. We had Dolphins legend OJ McDuffie and his The Fish Tank co-host Seth Levit (and DJ DJ Prēc), Drive Time’s Travis Wingfield and Dolphins Today host Johanna Torres all come out and party with us both days. Nat Moore and Jason Jenkins also came out during the tailgate… those guys never miss one. Want to give a special shoutout to OJ who signed autograph after autograph and posed for picture after picture the entire time he was there. And another shout out to Seth who also runs the Jason Taylor Foundation who donated the Jason Taylor jersey to our game day raffle. He told us to give all the money to the Miami Dolphins Foundation in the DCC but we raised so much that we had to surprise him with donation to the JT Foundation as well.

The tailgate itself was an absolute party. We took over the entire parking lot between L4 and L7. It was massive. Our partners at Urban Tailgate killed it again. They were a little understaffed at the last minute and that led to some long lines, but the food was incredible. We will get that worked out for next year and make sure the lines aren’t nearly as bad. Huge shout out to our friends at Sailor Jerry for providing not only Sailor but also some bottles from their sister brands Reyka Vodka and Fistfull of Bourbon.

The game couldn’t have gone much better. The Jets hung around for a bit, but in the second half the Dolphins put them to bed and you could hear our “Let’s Go Dolphins!” chants on TV. Several of the Dolphins players Tweeted about us after the game and the #MetLifeTakeover hashtag absolutely exploded on Twitter. I couldn’t even keep up with it. We even got a little write up in the Miami New Times. Very cool.

So thanks again everyone for making this year one of the best years ever. I can’t wait to do it all again next year. I got a pretty good gallery of photos for you too. I have a back injury so I didn’t do a great job documenting it, but there are still some fun shots here. Also we have the 2021 #MetlifeTakeover video coming soon. That should be amazing. Now go check out the photos below! (Click here to view the gallery directly on Flickr where it looks less wonky than the embedded gallery viewer.)

Once again the #MetLifeTakeover is back! This Sunday the Dolphins play the Jets in Jersey and once again Dolfans NYC will be rolling deep. We have over 700 Dolphins fans sitting together and hundreds more at our tailgate. No matter what happens on the field, this is the one Dolphins event you can’t have a bad time at. We are all sold out of tickets and transportation but you can still buy tailgate tickets.

As always we have TWO events planned, we do a pre-party Saturday night at our bar Slattery’s Midtown Pub and then of course we do the tailgate on game day.

Saturday night: We will be officially starting our party at 7pm and will have a DJ and raffles and a ton of fun and maybe a few surprises. It’s a great, low key way to meet everyone and hang out with a bunch of Dolphins fans. The party ends at 9pm so we can start getting ready for Sunday morning, but you are welcome to continue hanging out at the bar down stairs all night. For those coming from out of town, remember that New York State has a law requiring a Covid vaccination to enter a bar or restaurant. Please don’t show up without proof of vaccination and please don’t argue with Slattery’s staff about it. Thanks for understanding!

Sunday morning: If you are coming with us on the busses Slattery’s opens at 7am. They will have free coffee and bagels for you. Please arrive no later than 7:30am. You must be signed up and on the bus by 7:45. We will not wait for anyone. If you aren’t coming with us, the tailgate starts shortly after 9am when the gates open. We will be in the charter bus lot in Lot L. You can’t park right next to us but you can get very close by purchasing a gold parking pass. If you purchased a tailgate ticket we will have all you can eat and drink. If you don’t have a tailgate ticket, then just BYO and you can still hang out with us. Everyone is welcome! We will have a DJ, raffles, a musical performance by Solo D, and some special appearances. I don’t want to give too much away, but Dolphins legend OJ McDuffie did Tweet about coming to the tailgate so I guess that cat is out of the bag.

This weekend should be a blast and we can’t wait to see everyone. We will be filming our annual #MetLifeTakeover video so be on the lookout for our camera crew and in the meantime you can watch our past videos here. Phins up and see you guys on Saturday!

We are so psyched to be able to bring you another #MetLifeTakeover! It was obviously incredibly disappointing to have to go virtual last year, but with things getting back to normal we are full speed ahead with the 2021 Takeover (November 21st, 1pm at MetLife Stadium) with a full tailgate, our normal massive group ticket purchase and bus transportation from our bar Slattery’s Midtown Pub all for less that you have paid in the past.

We were able to get a great ticket discount because we put a down payment on tickets last year during the pandemic and we are passing that on to you. Tickets are only $65 and just $55 if you order your tickets before the start of the season. This is the cheapest we have been able to sell tickets in years and it’s pretty incredible. Our round trip bus from Slattery’s is also less this year, returning to the $30 price after an increase in 2019.

Speaking of Slattery’s, they officially reopen September 1st but the current plan is to do a small scale Dolfans NYC pre launch for the final preseason game on August 29th. More details to come on that, but it’s pretty exciting news as they have been closed for over a year.

Our other big update is that for the first time we are selling tailgate tickets directly this year. Food and alcohol costs have risen this year so our partners at Urban Tailgate have had to raise prices, fortunately we worked out a deal where if you buy directly from us you can save $10 on the all you can eat/drink tailgate ticket and $5 on the non-alcoholic ticket. With our discounts they are priced at $75 and $50 respectively which is still one hell of a deal considering the super high end food and drink options. You can always BYO too, but we make it easy for you with our fully catered tailgate.

The other great thing about selling tailgate tickets directly is that we can now sell you our TOTAL PACKAGE BUNDLE with a game ticket, round-trip bus transportation from NYC and a tailgate ticket at an even bigger discount. All three options are only $150 or $125 with no alcohol. It’s a hell of a deal for an entire day of you just sitting back and relaxing and enjoying the Dolphins stomp all over the New Jersey Jets.

Keep in mind ALL prices go up after the start of the season so make sure to get your ticket purchases in before September 12th. Plus the earlier you order, the better the seats! Also, if you want to sit in a “Family Friendly” row, you MUST order before September 12th as well so we can make sure you guys are all sitting together.

I think that’s it. If you need more information or have any questions PLEASE READ OUR FAQ before emailing us directly.

NOW CLICK HERE TO BUY YOUR 2021 #METLIFETAKEOVER TICKETS.

Ps. If you haven’t been to the #MetLifeTakeover check out the video below, or for more videos from past Takeovers, click here.

I almost called this post a 2021 NFL Draft recap, but we aren’t going to be getting into the actual picks very much, more just my experience in Cleveland and then we can take a look at some of my photos from the weekend (well, technically it was Thursday). I will say this about the picks, I am very excited about all of them. I would have loved Harris at 18 because that would have been really fun, but RBs are the most replaceable position in football and if you had asked me what the Dolphins needed without knowing any of the players in the draft I would have told you pass rush and receiver and we got two great players at those positions plus a beast at OT and apparently the best safety in the draft (which happens to be my favorite position) so I am pretty happy with it. But that’s enough of my second rate analysis, let’s talk about the trip.

When the NFL Draft was in NYC we started organizing group trips starting with the 2008 Draft when we picked Jake Long with the first pick in the Draft. We didn’t even have a club yet. The next year we printed a bunch of flyers and handed them out to everyone to promote the club which we had just started. We kept doing this and using it as outreach for the club until the Draft moved out of NYC. In 2019 I got invited to go to Dallas to be part of the Inner Circle and it was a great experience and I couldn’t wait to do it again in Vegas last year. Michelle was coming too and we had a bunch of plans for meet ups and fun things like that, and then Covid happened. I did get to be part of the screen behind Goodell instead, but not quite the same thing.

This year I think I lucked out. The NFL only allowed 12 people per team into the Inner Circle this year and you had to be vaccinated by April 15th. Finally my high blood pressure helped me out in life and I got my second shot in early April. I also happened to be holding my phone in my hand when I got the email from the Dolphins. I am not exactly sure who else was on the mailing list, but I bet it was all of the fan clubs, but when I saw it was first come, first serve I emailed back within seconds before even looking at flights or hotels. I ended up staying at a horrible motel out by the airport because of it, but it was well worth it in the end.

I don’t watch college football and I try not to dig to deep into Draft stuff because I don’t want to get excited about a player and watch him go right before we pick to the Jets or something. I remember after the Chiefs drafted Eric Berry I was so god damn disappointed I stopped following the Draft from then on, but I still love the Draft experience. I love having a reason to get excited about the Dolphins again, I love interacting with fans from the Dolphins and talking some smack to rival fans and just being part of this group experience of the most die hard fans in the world coming together for this admittedly kinda boring event. I mean can you imagine explaining it to someone who doesn’t like sports? It’s crazy how much we love it.

I personally do not care one way or another about getting on TV but I do care about getting the Dolfans NYC logo on TV. Our group trips to the Draft were such a good way to grow the club and my hope is that if people at home in NY see a Dolfans NYC hat or t-shirt on ESPN they might look up the club and realize that there are Dolphins fans in their backyard and they had no idea. It’s all about spreading the word. So I thought it was very cool that I got some TV time during the first pick, what I didn’t expect was getting even more TV time on the actual Draft stage!

I have no idea why they introduced this fan sitting in Goodell’s seat thing, but they picked one person out of the Inner Circle for each pick to sit on stage. After the first pick I started to look around and realized of the 11 remaining Dolphins fans who hadn’t been on stage, there were only a few of us in Dolphins gear that wasn’t just your standard jersey. I figured if I was a producer I wouldn’t pick someone who was just in a jersey if I could help it. I sort of figured I had a chance to get our logo on TV in a bigger way so when it got close to the 18th pick I stood up and started looking around for NFL employees, and I made eye contact with a guy who immediately called me over and that was that, I got to go into the chair.

When they brought me up I thought I was going to be really nervous so I just tried to be as chill as possible. Goodell shook my hand and told me to enjoy the seat and a producer came over and told me the Dolphins had already made their pick and my time in the chair would be short. She told me that after the pick I would be handed a jersey and once I got it I would stand up and either hand it to the pick if he was there or just hold it up to the crowd. After that I just got to sit there and relax. The chair was comfy as hell and I saw people taking my photo so I crossed my legs to get the Jordans in the pictures. When Goodell came back out he showed me the pick and asked me if I like it. I didn’t even see who was picked 17th so I wasn’t sure if Harris was even still on the board. When I saw Philips I was pumped because we desperately needed a better pass rush and he’s a beast. I almost flashed The U symbol to the crowd before Goodell read of the pick but I absolutely chickened out. I didn’t want to get in trouble for signaling the pick before it was announced. After that I got handed a jersey and a screen came down with Philips on it and I was told to hold it to the screen which was weird because there wasn’t a camera there and Philips was hugging his family and not looking at the screen so Goodell just told me to show it to the Dolphins fans. After that someone took the jersey and told me to exit stage right and that was it. Later round picks got to keep their players Draft card so kinda jealous I didn’t get mine, but over all a very cool experience.

I also met some great Dolphins fans but I just wanted to shout out my dude Alex who picked me up from my hotel and brought me home from the draft on Thursday. It saved me like $70 on Ubers cause that’s how much I spent on Friday and it was great talking football with him at the NFL Experience before the Draft. Thanks man! Huge shout out to TPP as well for the challenge coin. Means a lot!

I am not sure what else I should add, but the whole event was very cool from the NFL Experience stuff (I got to see all the Super Bowl rings and managed to hurt my shoulder trying to throw a Hail Mary) to the gift bags (I got some new raffle prizes for the club next season) to getting to sit in the chair. I got a bunch of photos for you guys too, all from Thursday since I didn’t bring my camera back for Friday and I left Saturday. Check them out below!

I just wanted to give everyone a quick update on our virtual #MetLifeTakeover event. I think yesterday went just about as well as we could have possibly planned. We had a ton of people watching the game live with us, the Dolphins won and we raised almost $3000 for the Miami Dolphins Foundation Food Relief Program!

Huge congratulations to everyone who won our raffles and social media giveaways. It was great to be able to do something that felt a little like #MetLifeTakeover week even if we didn’t actually get to be together. We gave away three Don Shula memorial Yearbooks/ Dolfans NYC swag packs, a Mercury Morris signed photo, an actual seat back from the Dolphins stadium, ball signed by Dwight Stephenson, a Flo Knows shirt and of course the incredible Brian Flores signed game used helmet. I honestly am pretty upset I wasn’t allowed to buy tickets.

On the football side of things it was great to see the Dolphins play a pretty mediocre game and still win. That’s not something Dolphins fans are used to and a sign of a good team. I know the Jets are one of the worst teams in NFL history but even when we made huge mistakes at no point was I ever worried that we were going to lose. It’s nice to have that feeling during a game, especially when I was having to help moderate the Zoom meeting as well. Let’s do it again next week.

And finally check out this video RizeOptix put together for us from his last two years of filming #MetLifeTakeovers for us. As always shout out to Solo D for our Dolfans NYC anthem that we used for the video.  Phins up!

I cannot imagine how crazy this week would be for us if it weren’t for the coronavirus pandemic. It would be #MetLifeTakeover week with the maybe best Dolphins team in Dolfans NYC history going against a winless Jets team. Yeah the loss yesterday was tough, but this would undoubtedly be our biggest year ever. Unfortunately, 2020 hit and life might never be the same, but at least we have the Dolphins to look forward to every week and I can’t remember the last time we could say that. It goes without saying that there will be no in person #MetLifeTakeover this weekend, but we can still have a virtual one and raise some money in the process.

The biggest thing of the week is our raffle benefiting the Miami Dolphins Foundation Food Relief Program. The Dolphins sent us a Coach Brian Flores signed helmet as the grand prize and this is one of those times where we are pretty bummed out we can’t enter our own raffle. Our friends at This Is The Year are including a Flo Knows t-shirt in any size to go with the helmet. The second place prize is a mini football signed by one of the greatest centers ever to play the game of football, Hall of Famer Dwight Stephenson. And third place prize is the Don Shula commemorative Yearbook the Dolphins sold during the opening day game back in September as well as some Dolfans NYC patches and stickers. Raffle tickets are $5 each or 5 tickets for $20 and the drawing will be done after the Jets game.

BUY YOUR RAFFLE TICKETS HERE

On top of the raffle we will be doing some giveaways on social media as well. We have a few cool prizes including a Mercury Morris signed photo, another Don Shula Yearbook and an actual seat back from Hard Rock Stadium (technically it was SunLife at the time). Make sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram for a chance to win those prizes throughout the week.

We will be picking the winners after the game during our VIRTUAL #MetLifeTakover on Zoom! Join us for a big watch party in a giant Zoom meet up!

And that is our other big news —  we are doing a game day Zoom watch party! So once you have the game on, come join our zoom party at the link below and we can all watch and celebrate together. We will have everyone muted during the game but will unmute everyone during big plays so we can all celebrate together. Hopefully we can get the fight song going and of course some J-E-T-S Suck chants! We haven’t done anything like this before but hopefully our virtual Zoom chat will work out without too much trouble and we can at least get to see each other a bit during the game. Should be a lot of fun.

JOIN US ON ZOOM SUNDAY VIA THIS LINK

I know it’s hard to get excited about Dolphins stuff after a big loss, but this team is headed on the right direction and we have two very winnable games coming up. We should be rolling again when we face the Super Bowl champs in three weeks. I can’t wait to see hopefully the first of many games between Tua and Mahomes. In the meantime, let’s raise some money for charity, win some great prizes and stay excited about the future of the Miami Dolphins. Phins up!

I know most Dolphins fans have been looking forward this day for two years after knowing last year was going to be less than ideal. The day is finally here and instead of watching together at Slattery’s in a packed bar we are spread out all over the place

watching on couches trying to connect with our fellow Phins fans.

Well, today we are announcing our Dolfans NYC Discord server. All you have to do is Download the app Discord or just go to Discord.com and you can join a live Dolfans NYC chat room. If you haven’t used Discord before, it was originally used as a place to play video games with other people but has blown up in the Covid era as a way for people to keep in touch. Our server has chat rooms for the Dolphins, for general NFL and fantasy talk, as well as a place to argue with each other so we can keep the main rooms free from that. We also will have a “Celebrate” channel where you can turn on your audio when the Dolphins score and we can all sing the fight song together! It should be very cool.

Click this link to get invited into our room, and once you are there, just read the chat rules and click the checkmark saying you’ve read them and you are good to go! Can’t wait to talk to everyone on there.

We also have a few other things going on for game day today.

1. We have a 50/50 raffle to raise money for the west coast fire relief efforts. Tickets are $5 or 5 tickets for $20. We will draw after the game. We only take PayPal so send the money to dolfansnyc@gmail.com.
2. We made Dolfans NYC gifs! If you search “DolfansNYC” in the Giphy or Tenor gif searches they should come up. Giphy is Twitter’s search so it works on there and Tenor works on our Discord.
3. Michelle wants to put together a video of people’s game days experience today. So send a little video or some photos of your setup or celebration to dolfansnyc@gmail.com and she is going to edit them together into something. Sing the fight song when we score!

Okay, that’s it for now. We will hopefully have updates soon on what’s going on with Slattery’s once NYC allows indoor dining at the end of the month, and we plan on doing something for the #MetLifeTakeover, although we are not sure what that looks like yet. Can’t wait to see everyone in person again, but until then, see you on Discord!

Phins up!

I love the NFL Draft. Dolfans NYC used to do group trips every year when the Draft was in NYC. I went to Dallas a couple of years ago and I was supposed to be in Vegas for the Draft before the coronavirus messed everything up. Even with the virus I still ended up on TV when Tua was picked! But with all that said, I am the last person who should be doing a Draft recap.

I don’t watch a lot of college football, and even if I did I still could never be one of those Draft obsessed fans. I learned years ago that any time I get obsessed about a player they would end up on another team. Even this year I got really into the Tank for Tua thing and started watching Alabama games only to be crushed when he got injured. Ironically him getting hurt was the only way we were able to land him, but the point remains. I try not to pay any attention to the Draft, until it starts.

That being said, I might not be an expert on the Draft, but I do know a lot about the problems the Dolphins have and I think the Dolphins did a great job of addressing them. I had a few disappointments, but nothing I can complain about too much. For example I would love to have seen us keep trading picks back to pick up 2021 selections. But we have a lot of holes and already had nine picks next year so it’s hard to complain. We did end up trading one of our 7th round picks for a 6th rounder next year which I was happy to see.

Before I give you my quick take on the picks I should mention that it’s cool to see an obvious strategy from Grier as he picked a number players who either didn’t live up to their potential or had injuries that caused them to fall. It’s a risky strategy but you can see that the Dolphins are really focusing on 2021. They picked players that they could spend a year molding. I have a feeling our 2021 Draft picks are going to be much more polished day one starter types. The three year plan is really taking shape. Even the trade for running back Matt Breida is a perfect example. He’s a player who did really well with limited touches on a one year contract. If he plays great you can resign him and if not you have a stop gap and can draft his replacement early next year. It was a perfect solution to not being able to get one of the top tier RBs early.

Okay, let’s do this.

Pick #5: QB Tua Tagovailoa, Alabama – I have no interest in any more arguing about what QB the Dolphins should target. Tua has more upside than any other player in the draft and we didn’t even have to give anything to move up. Let’s just pray he works out and the Dolphins their answer at quarterback for a long, long time. What a moment.

Pick #18: OT Austin Jackson, USC – While I loved the Tunsil trade, giving up Minkah Fitzpatrick was hard to swallow, but I thought the Steelers were going to be a lot worse than they were. The 18th pick was a tough one with all the elite OTs gone and my personal pick Jerry Jeudy gone as well (OL is way more of a need but how fun would a Tua/Jeudy combo been?). It seems like a consensus that the Dolphins reached here with Jackson, but we got a very good player that had an off year after donating bone marrow to his sister. My hope is that by 2021 he will be much stronger and ready to protect Tua’s strong side for years to come.

Pick #30: CB Noah Igbinoghene, Auburn – I don’t know anything about Igbinoghene but people I trust seem to absolutely love him. He was a WR two years ago and was still a shutdown corner. He could improve so much with that one more year under his belt. And for those upset we picked a CB when we have Howard and Jones already, just remember how many injuries we have had in the secondary in the past and how often we are in nickel and dime defenses. Plus a dominant secondary makes up for a questionable pass rush.

Pick #39: OL Robert Hunt, Louisiana-Lafayette – I was saying on Twitter that if the Dolphins drafted nothing but linemen after Tua I would be happy and I am not sure that I was joking. This is how you build a football team. Hunt is a versatile lineman who can play tackle or guard and if he works out he could be protecting Tua’s blind side for years, and if not that versatility gives us a great depth option like Jesse Davis.

Pick #56: DL Raekwon Davis, Alabama – I am very happy to see us drafting linemen on either side of the ball. We have some players I like up front but we were still garbage against the run and hopefully Davis will help with that. Plus being the second player on our team named after the rapper Raekwon is honestly incredible. Wu Tang forever!

Pick #70: S Brandon Jones, Texas – I was hoping we would get a safety earlier but please do yourself a favor and watch some Jones highlights. The man can tackle. Safety is my favorite position on the field and I just love seeing people get crushed by a safety who is running full speed up field. Nothing would make me happier than Jones making me forget that Fitzpatrick was ever on the team. (BTW Reshad Jones is still a free agent and if we resigned him that would give us 3 Jonese in the secondary.)

Pick #111: G Solomon Kindley, Georgia – Keep drafting linemen! Kindley is an absolute beast and the Dolphins must love him because they gave up two picks to get him. He’s apparently a fantastic pass blocker only giving up four sacks in over 900 attempts. He’s also very fast and very mean and will hopefully become a fixture at left guard for the Dolphins.

Pick #154: DL Jason Strowbridge, North Carolina – Strobridge is an athletic run stopping lineman who can play inside or out. He’s also from South Florida which is always cool. He should perfectly compliment the man who was chosen 10 picks after him. He also blocked four kicks in college which could be a great added bonus.

Pick #164: EDGE Curtis Weaver, Boise State – A lot of people are talking about Weaver being the steal of the draft. PFF had him as the 26th player on their draft board and we got him 138 picks later. An undersized pass rusher who can come in on passing downs to spell a player like Strowbridge and just line up and go after the QB. We got one of the best pass rushers in college football in the 5th round (although we did give up a 7th to move up for him) and hopefully he will turn out a lot better than some of our recent DE selections.

Pick #185: LS Blake Ferguson, LSU –  This was the only pick I had a problem. I loved John Denney so much and I was so disappointed to see him go, but he was replaced by a hilarious dude named Taybor who is a big gamer and Tweets constantly. He was so much fun to have on the team, especially because I don’t remember him making any mistakes as a long snapper and I presume on a league minimum salary. Drafting someone, even with a 6th round pick, means you are spending more money and way more resources on a position that can be filled cheaply. I was hoping Taybor would have a chance to compete but I literally got a text in the middle of writing this article telling me he had been cut. Farewell young prince!

Pick #246: WR Malcolm Perry, Navy – If you want to enjoy some highlights watch Perry’s. He played QB, WR and RB in college and does nothing but take footballs to the house. The guy is a scoring machine. 7th round picks don’t usually work out so you might as well draft a guy with a ton of upside. If his game could translate to the NFL he could be so much fun to have as a slot receiver or a third down back…. and just think of the trick plays!

When the smokescreen finally cleared on Thursday night, after months of speculation and endless rumors, the Dolphins landed their quarterback of the future.

Flanked by his parents and siblings inside his Alabaster, Ala. home, Tua Tagovailoa slid a black Miami Dolphins cap on his head and a lei around his neck, after officially joining the Dolphins as the No. 5 pick in the NFL Draft.

For Tagovailoa, hearing his name called by the commissioner was “a dream come true” for him and his family. Now that he’s a member of the Dolphins, the next step is building camaraderie with his new teammates and soaking in knowledge from the veterans.

“The most important thing is probably getting everyone’s phone numbers on the team and creating relationships, maybe starting with the quarterbacks,” he said.

“(Ryan Fitzpatrick) has so much knowledge of the game. I think it’s best that I pick (his brain) … question him and learn from him.”

Tagovailoa’s star talent was never in question. In nine games last season, Tagovailoa, the most efficient quarterback in college football history, threw for 2,840 yards, 33 touchdowns and three interceptions, while completing 71.4 percent of his passes. As a sophomore, the lefty signal-caller finished second in the Heisman Trophy race after tossing for 3,966 yards, 43 touchdowns and six interceptions.

But a lengthy injury history, most notably a dislocated right hip he suffered in mid-November, led many to believe the one-time favorite to be the No. 1 overall pick might slide toward the middle of the first round.

In the weeks leading up to the Draft, the former Alabama star was fully cleared by his surgeon and received positive reviews from a hip specialist in Nashville.

Tagovailoa recognized he won’t enter training camp atop the depth chart, but he fully expects to compete for the starting job with the incumbent Fitzpatrick.

“That has to be the mindset,” Tagovailoa said. “Competition is usually always healthy. You not only get better yourself, but you get the entire quarterback room better that way.”

The new franchise quarterback isn’t concerned about changing his jersey from No. 13 – “Dan Marino is the G.O.A.T.” he said – but rather following in the footsteps of the Dolphins legend.

“What I have to do is go out there and earn my respect,” Tagovailoa said. “I’m trying to prove this is the right decision for the organization.”

If the early consensus is any indication, Dolphins fans around the country are ecstatic with the pick. The Dolfans NYC Facebook page was littered with thumbs-up emojis and jubilant GIFs immediately after the announcement. In a poll asking if the team made the right move, the overwhelming majority voted ‘Yes.’

“He’s the best QB in the Draft,” one member said. “Let’s keep the young man healthy and see what he can do!”

The 2019 #MetLifeTakeover video is finally here! It took way longer than we wanted it’s been a crazy winter for all of us here at Dolfans NYC and I am just glad we finally got it done and I think you guys will see that it came out great. 2019 was not exactly a great year for the Dolphins, and this game didn’t go super great on the field, but despite our lower than normal numbers, we had one hell of a tailgate and having two full sections of Dolphins fans is still pretty damn impactful. You could easily hear us on  TV yelling from the upper decks.

The video includes interviews with Dolphins alumni Nat Moore, Dolfans NYC regular Shawn Wooden, and Joe Rose plus the Dolphins Jason Jenkin’s who presented us with a framed custom Dolphins jersey celebrating our 10th anniversary of our Jets game takeovers. The video also includes interviews with South Florida South Sentinel Dolphins writers Safid Deen and Omar Kelly and of course a ton of Dolphins fans.

Huge thanks to everyone who helped out, Oscar Collazos for hosting, Curtis from RizeOptix for directing and editing the video, Urban Tailgate for the great food and drink, Solo D for the live performance, Tropic 2.0 & DJ Syck Turtle for the tailgate music and Sailor Jerry for sponsoring the event. Also, a big shout out to Hotels.com for coming out and filming a video about us. And of course big thanks to the Miami Dolphins for all the support including setting up a live taping of The Joe Rose show in the middle of our tailgate.

We also want to thank all of you guys for helping us raise over $10,00 for charity this season. And we need to ask your help again. We are trying to raise money for the 14 members of the Slattery’s staff who have been laid off because of the Coronavirus. So far we have raised enough to give them each $200, but we would like to do more, so if you want to help out, please PayPal us whatever you can to DolfansNYC@gmail.com. We are going to randomly select one of the people who donate to win a prize once the world gets back to normal, but we don’t know what that is yet because we need to be able to get back into Slattery’s to see what we have to give away.

Okay! That’s it. Please take the time to watch the video, we put a lot of work into it. Plus, I have a feeling you guys don’t have anything else to be doing while you are stuck in quarantine! NYC and Florida are two of the hardest hit places so please, please stay safe out there! Phins up!