The Miami Dolphins were one of the major surprises of the NFL last season with 10 wins and their first playoff appearance since 2008. However, several early projections do not show Miami sustaining that success in 2017.

The latest case comes from ESPN's Football Power Index, which was released on Thursday. The Dolphins were ranked 23rd out of 32 teams.

According to the rankings, Miami is projected to finish 7-9 and has only a 4.1 percent chance of winning the AFC East. The Buffalo Bills are right behind Miami in the division with 6.8 projected wins and a 3.2 percent chance to win the AFC East.

This presents an interesting question: Are the Dolphins being underrated?

Miami is a young team that gained valuable playoff experience last year and kept its core in tact this offseason by resigning many of its own key players, such as receiver Kenny Stills, safety Reshad Jones, linebacker Kiko Alonso and defensive end Andre Branch. The Dolphins also plugged some holes in free agency by adding veteran linebacker Lawrence Timmons, defensive end William Hayes and safety Nate Allen in addition to a rookie class led by defensive end Charles Harris.

Too often in recent years the Dolphins have been overrated with overblown playoff expectations fueled by big free-agent pickups. However this year's relatively quiet offseason combined with last year's playoff run hasn't raised expectations nationally. It presents a rare offseason scenario where Miami is actually being underrated by experts.