Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Draft could stock new hybrid defense
Miami Dolphins linebacker Raekwon McMillan continues to turn a significant corner in his young NFL career.
For the first time since tearing his anterior cruciate ligament in a preseason game as a rookie in 2017, he will experience a proper NFL offseason to train before the 2019 regular season gets underway in September.
With that, McMillan will enter his third year in the league with hopes to continue making the strides he made toward the end of last season where he showed promise as a run-stopping defender for the Dolphins.
“Last year, I rehabbed the whole year,” McMillan said last week during the Dolphins’ Cancer Challenge event. “But this year, I got to jump right into it.”
McMillan, fellow Ohio State product Jerome Baker, and seven-year veteran Kiko Alonso played 15 out of 16 games together for the Dolphins last season, and will be depended on to do the same again — but in some altered roles — next season.
New Dolphins coach Brian Flores plans to implement a multiple-look, hybrid defense, and could use this month’s NFL draft to begin acquiring the ideal athletes needed to fit the scheme.
Inside linebackers Devin White, of LSU, and Devin Bush, a former Flanagan High standout who starred at Michigan, are considered two of the best prospects in the draft, and could even be out of Miami’s range with the No. 13 overall pick.
Mississippi State’s Montez Sweat, who ran the fastest 40-yard dash in combine history at his position, or Florida State’s Brian Burns, a former American Heritage Plantation High standout, are considered defensive ends that can play outside linebacker in the NFL and could be within Miami’s first-round range.
As the Dolphins gear their draft focus toward defensive line, offensive line and quarterback, how they address their linebacker situation depends on how they value the roles of each position and how McMillan, Baker and Alonso fit into Flores’ scheme.
McMillan and Baker, who is entering his second year after a productive rookie season, fit the mold of what the Dolphins rebuild is all about: finding young, talented players in the draft and building toward the future.
Alonso, Miami’s leader with 125 tackles while playing 92.1 percent of snaps last season, is a seasoned veteran that could continue to lead players like McMillan and Baker or become a valuable asset to another team in need of durable, high-motored player on defense.
McMillan may be a viable answer at inside linebacker, while Alonso and Baker could see their playing times split at inside and outside.
Backup linebackers like Chase Allen, Mike Hull, Quentin Poling, James Burgess and newly signed Sam Eguavoen out of the CFL could use offseason workouts and minicamp to show where they could fit in Flores’ scheme, while newly signed outside linebackers/pass rushers Tyrone Holmes and Jayrone Elliott from the AAF will look to make impacts, too.
“All the coaches are going to put me in the best position possible to make plays, and they’re going to use all the players that we have to put in the best position possible to play defense,” McMillan said. “Whatever my coach asks me to do, I’m going to go out and do it.”