Pieces aren’t missing Defense finally seems to have enough assets for turnaround T
The Dolphins are hoping that free-agent pickup Kyle Van Noy provides the missing spark to the team’s defense at linebacker. he Miami Dolphins defense has been hold-your-nose bad for the majority of the past decade.
The unit ranked in the bottom five of several important defensive statistics — points and yards allowed and turnovers produced — for the past three seasons with one exception: the 2018 season, when Miami ranked sixth in turnovers produced (28).
Last year the Dolphins defense ranked last in points allowed per game (30.9), 30th in yards allowed per game (397.8) and 29th in turnovers produced in a season (18), and those bleak statistics have been the norm in recent years.
The last time the Dolphins finished a season with a top-10 defense was in 2014, when a Joe Philbin-led team featured the NFL’s eighth-stingiest defense, a unit that allowed 20.9 points per game in an 8-8 season.
The defensive tide needs to turn, and it has the potential to do so this season because of the makeover that free agency and the draft delivered to that side of the ball — the side of the team Brian
Flores worked his way up the NFL ranks coaching.
Last year, the Dolphins didn’t have the tools to properly run the hybrid defense Flores spent the past decade learning and coaching in New England, but the influx of edge-setters, pass rushers and interchangeable pieces should change that.
The vision starts with Emmanuel Ogbah (18 sacks in four seasons) setting the edge on the left side of the defensive line and anchoring the line’s run-stopping efforts while Davon Godchaux, Christian Wilkins
and rookie defensive tackle Raekwon Davis, the former Alabama standout Miami selected in the second round, work as a rotational trio stopping the run and Shaq Lawson (16 1⁄2 sacks in four seasons) attacks the opponent’s left tackle.
The addition of Ogbah, Lawson, Davis and fellow rookie Jason Strowbridge, the team’s fifth-round pick, should make the Dolphins more effective at holding the point of attack against the run, which was a major issue last season.
And when the Dolphins want to diversify their pass-rushing fronts, Kyle Van Noy, Vince Biegel,
Andrew Van Ginkel and maybe even Curtis Weaver, the Boise State product selected in the fifth-round, could get into the mix.
The vision for Van Noy is for the six-year veteran to become one of Miami’s starting two inside linebackers, where he’ll be paired with Jerome Baker, who will now be freed up to cover tight ends and blitz more often.
Van Noy’s versatility and experience in Flores’ defense from their time together in New England will allow the Dolphins’ rebuilt defense to become more fluid, seamlessly shifting from a 3-4 to a 4-3 defense, because Van Noy has the ability to rush to the quarterback, set the edge and drop into coverage.
Van Noy was the missing ingredient in Flores’ defense last year, which is why the Dolphins gave the 29-year-old a lucrative four-year, $51 million deal.
Where that leaves Raekwon McMillan is unclear, but those three potentially give the Dolphins a solid trio of starting linebackers.
While Van Noy can be labeled the missing ingredient, it is Bryon Jones who will serve as the special sauce for Miami’s 2020 defense because the 27-year-old has phenomenal athleticism and the versatility to play cornerback or safety.
He’s fast, fluid and physical, just like Xavien Howard, a 2018 Pro Bowl pick who when healthy is one of the NFL’s few cornerbacks who can effectively shadow an opponent’s best receiver.
Pair Howard and Jones together, and the Dolphins arguably have one of the best cornerback duos in the NFL. They are certainly paid like they are the best, considering Howard and Jones have the second- and third-biggest cornerback contracts. Their deals only trail that of Eagles cornerback Darius Slay.
The only mystery about the Dolphins defense is who else will be key contributors in the secondary and what role they will play?
The Dolphins must find a reliable safety duo to fill the void Reshad Jones’ release creates, and they have more than a halfdozen players to select from, including Bobby McCain, Eric Rowe, former Texas standout and thirdround draft pick Brandon Jones, and free agent signees Clayton Fejedelem and Kavon Frazier.
And that doesn’t even factor in Steven Parker and Adrian Colbert, who each started multiple games last season and were adequate in their assigned roles.
The toughest decision Miami has to make on defense is figuring out who plays the nickel cornerback spot, and there are nearly a half-dozen decent options for that as well, considering McCain, Rowe, Nik Needham, Ken Webster, Jamal Perry, Nate Brooks and Noah Igbinoghene, the team’s third and final firstround pick, can all contribute.
The depth in the secondary illustrates exactly how much depth the Dolphins have developed compared to last year, when a halfdozen cornerbacks were signed off the waiver wire or some team’s practice squad on a Tuesday and then started a game on Sunday.
Depth is annually what separates the good teams from those that struggle, like last year’s Dolphins. And for the first time in a while, Miami’s defense seems to possess it.
So if injuries don’t ravage the Dolphins defense we might finally see the tide turning for this unit as it pushes to become respectable — if not feared — once again.