A fitter Christian Wilkins could be key for Dolphins revamped defensive line,
To get a full appreciation for how inadequate the Dolphins’ defensive line was last season, consider this: Miami dumped the three defensive ends who played the most snaps for it in 2019 and made no effort to re-sign its No. 3 defensive tackle (John Jenkins).
The upshot is not a single player listed as a defensive end is back from last year’s team, and Miami hopes the addition of veteran ends Shaq Lawson and Emmanuel Ogbah — and the selection of Alabama defensive tackle Raekwon Davis at No. 56 in the draft — will dramatically upgrade a unit whose shortcomings contributed largely to Miami finishing 27th in the NFL in rush defense and producing just 23 sacks, five fewer than any other team.
And besides the additions of Lawson, Ogbah, Davis and rookie fifthround defensive linemen Curtis Weaver and Jason Strowbridge — plus the return of capable starting tackle Davon Godchaux — there’s another reason the Dolphins suspect their defensive line will be better: An improved Christian Wilkins.
The second-year former first-round pick from Clemson, who is listed as a tackle but plays some end when Miami is in a 3-4 defense, reported to camp in better condition, defensive line coach Marion Hobby said Saturday.
“When you watch Christian, at the end of the year, I thought he was in better shape and it started showing up on the field because he started making those plays we want him to make,” Hobby said. “He’s come in this year in better shape. He’s ahead and that’s tough because we didn’t get OTAs and minicamp. Somewhere this man went and really worked his butt off to keep his weight down. He really looks good out there. I’m looking for great things from him.”
Hobby knows Wilkins better than anyone in the Dolphins building, having coached him previously at Clemson.
“Anybody knows anything about Christian Wilkins, he loves football,” Hobby said. “He matured as he went on. He had a lot of things going on early. He’s going to try to do them all, in the community. I talked to him about it.”
Hobby also has a history coaching Lawson at Clemson and endorsed pursuing him in free agency. He has 16 1⁄ sacks in 50 NFL
2 games, all for Buffalo.
“You kind of have a good history with him,” Hobby said. “We were looking for smart, tough players that know football and have a team-first attitude and he fits it. He’s been a leader all his career.
“His energy level I thought he would be a really good fit for us.”
Hobby also is thrilled about the addition of Ogbah, who has 18 career sacks in 50 games for Cleveland and Kansas City. Last season, both Lawson and Oghab ranked in the top 10 among edge defenders in Pro Football Focus’ telling “run stop metric,” which credits a player for a stop if the offense fails to produce a successful play.
Hobby said he hadn’t met Ogbah before he signed but evaluated him on tape and asked other coaches about him. “He’s proven to be exactly what they said,” Hobby said. “He’s very conscientious. Got a good football IQ , smart, he’ll work.”
Even though Davis had only two sacks combined the past two seasons at Alabama after producing 8 1⁄ as a sophomore, the
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Dolphins took a liking to him in the pre-draft process. He was considered one of the better run-stopping tackles in the draft.
Alabama coach Nick Saban told South Florida reporters after the NFL Draft that Davis “has got all the tools to be a really good player” but that the long-term hope with Davis is “to have ability match production.”
Hobby heard that comment and wondered “does he not take it seriously? I didn’t get that impression from him from the Combine. Getting a chance to visit with him at the Combine, I thought he did a great job at the interview. Raekwon is just different athletically, but he’s a more conscientious football player. Visiting with him at the Combine gave us good encouragement about that guy. Working with him, I think he’s he’s little more conscientious about what he does, his game and getting better.”
The key, Hobby said, is “showing him on tape where he can be better, holding him accountable to play at a high level.”
The belief internally is that Ogbah, Lawson, Weaver and Strowbridge will be a significant upgrade over Harris (who played a lot of linebacker last season but was listed as a defensive end), Taco Charlton and Avery Moss.
Harris (429 defensively snaps last season) was traded to Atlanta for a seventh-round pick, Charlton (396 snaps) was cut and is now with Kansas City and Moss (343) remains an unsigned free agent. Jenkins signed with the Chicago Bears on April 28.