Inexperienced McCain, Rowe could be starting duo at safety
The two players viewed as the frontrunners to start at safety for the Miami Dolphins have played the position for 19 games in the NFL.
Not 19 games each. That’s the collective body of work at safety Eric Rowe and Bobby resumes.
Rowe was moved from cornerback to safety in late October after Minkah Fitzpatrick was traded to Pittsburgh, and he started 11 games at the position he played early in college at Utah before being switched to cornerback.
And McCain, who served as the Dolphins nickel cornerback for the first four seasons of his NFL career, started eight games at free safety last year before suffering his second shoulder injury of the season, which led to him
McCain have on their NFL
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placed reserve.
Nineteen games isn’t much of a sample size to determine if these two cornerback converts can handle the challenges that come with playing safety, effectively replacing Reshad Jones, who was released this offseason after serving nine seasons as a starter, and Fitzpatrick.
But these former cornerbacks do have experience and versatility on their side.
And that happens to be two of the key ingredients coach Brian Flores intends on injured to build his hybrid defense on, creating a seamless, interchangeable unit.
“I’m a guy that can play any place in the backfield,” said McCain, who started 32 games as a cornerback his first four seasons in the team’s nickel defense and on the boundary.
“With practice and time, everyone gets better. It’s not my decision to make decisions. I love doing what I do, and I can do it all.”
The Dolphins don’t believe in having free and strong safeties. They want defensive backs playing that position who can do whatever is asked, which sometimes means serving as a pseudo linebacker on runbeing ning plays, dropping back into man-to-man coverage on a tight end, tailback or receiver, and serving as the last line of defense on passing plays.
That’s a tall order of requests for two players with limited experience at the position.
McCain — who is relatively small for a cornerback, much less a safety — hasn’t proved his 5-foot-11, 192-pound frame can handle the battering that comes with the position, and Rowe isn’t exactly known for being a striker. So don’t expect either to mix it up in the box as Jones did for a decade in Miami’s defense.
But it’s very likely that their diverse skill sets will allow the Dolphins defense be more exotic with the coaching staff ’s play-calling since either player can move back to the boundary or play the nickel spot on any given play.
And that’s exactly what Flores wants: a defense in which it will be difficult to predict what each player will be doing before the ball is snapped.
As versatile as they might be, there’s no guarantee McCain and Rowe can produce the type of game-changing plays — interceptions, forced fumbles, sacks and defensive scores — that Jones regularly did.
Or that the pair can handle the physical banging that comes with being a safety, which is typically north of 210 pounds.
And will adding the bulk, the muscle needed to handle the physicality of playing safety impact either player’s ability to cover? We’ll soon see.
The Dolphins do have a few options if the cornerback converts don’t pan out.
Adrian Colbert and Steven Parker started a handful of games at safety for Miami when McCain was sidelined, and their development could take another step forward.
Clayton Fejedelem and Kavon Frazier, two veteran safeties, were both added as free agents this offseason. Both have started a handful of games.
And Miami drafted Brandon Jones, a former Texas standout, in the third round of April’s draft. He’s been praised for having the intelligence and physicality needed to be an NFL starter in time.
However, there is usually a learning curve for safeties that requires some patience.
And patience is exactly what this entire unit will need because only time will dictate how Rowe and McCain’s cornerback-to-safety evolution goes, and that position could either speed up or slow down the evolution of Flores’ defense.