Raekwon Davis’ strength key to Dolphins defense
Raekwon Davis’ strength, size, skill key to Dolphins delivering forceful defense
MIAMI GARDENS — Raekwon Davis can throw a 300-pound man around with ease.
It doesn’t happen on every play, but it happens often enough for the Miami Dolphins nose tackle — or nose guard, depending on what you prefer to call the inside man on a 3-4 front — to be viewed as a problem in the NFL.
When Davis uses his 6-foot-7, 330-pound frame to force his will on a 300-pound offensive guard or center, it is a sight to see, proof that not every man is made equal.
Some are simply born with God-given size and power, and if used properly, those gifts can become destructive on a football field.
Those types of players get assigned two blockers, and the Dolphins hope Davis becomes one of those talents.
Miami’s coaches are trying to help Davis tap into those gifts consistently, hoping that he can provide a handful of game-changing plays per contest this season, like a collapsed pocket on a passing down or a snap where he places a center in a tailback’s
running lane in the backfield.
To help Davis get there, the Dolphins invited a man who spent a decadeplus in his shoes to camp. Former University of Miami standout Vince Wilfork, who had a sensational NFL career with the New England Patriots and Houston Texans, visited practice and offered Davis some pointers.
“He was teaching me his technique,” Davis said of Wilfork, who attended a Dolphins practice three weeks ago. Wilfork also studied film with Davis, whom the Dolphins drafted in the second round out of Alabama last year.
“Him looking at blocks, looking at formations,” Davis said. “He was teaching me a lot of things.”
Wilfork, who is in his first year of eligibility for the Pro Football Hall of Fame after retiring five years ago, was a once-in-a-generation talent, a pillar of granite for a perennial NFL power.
You could argue that Wilfork was one of the most important players on those Patriots teams not named Tom Brady or Wes Welker. He was just as vital to the Patriots’ defensive success as Ty Law, who was recently elected to the Hall of Fame, and Richard Seymour, another Hall of Fame candidate.
One of my favorite discussions about football with an NFL executive centered on Wilfork, because the executive was explaining the value of Wilfork and how difficult it is to find a player of his caliber. “One man who occupies two?” the executive explained. “That’s how you get an edge.”
Finding a 350-pound human like Wilfork or Davis, someone that strong and athletic, isn’t easy. And the benefits of having one is they can wreck the game if two blockers aren’t assigned to them.
That’s the level Davis, who contributed 40 tackles in 539 defensive snaps as a rookie last season, is trying to achieve.
“When you got the one-on-ones blocked, you got to just take advantage of it,” said Davis, who helped the Dolphins trim their yards-per-carry allowed average down from 4.9 yards to 4.5 yards when he was inserted into the starting lineup around midseason last year as Davon Godchaux’s replacement. “It’s very unlikely for me to get a one-on-one, so I have to take advantage of every one-on-one block I get. I try my best to win them.”
The problem with Davis is his 6-foot-7 height, which shouldn’t help in the trenches at the line of scrimmage, because low-man wins in those confined areas.
Wilfork was 6-foot-2, so his center of gravity was at the same level of the offensive linemen responsible for moving him. Davis’ frame is more suited for defensive end, but he lacks the speed to be a pass rushing threat from the edges.
But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t he can’t have an impact on every snap he’s on the field.
“I would consider Raekwon one of the oversized players in the league. Normally, nose guard are shorter, more stocky guys. Then you get guys like [Patriots offensive tackle] Trent Brown and Raekwon that are just undeniably big,” said fellow defensive lineman Adam Butler. “The laws of physics just comes to play at that point. Obviously, leverage is very important, but mass, moves mass so it works to his favor.”
The hope is that Davis’ mass and the improvements he makes this offseason will allow the Dolphins to tighten the screws on the team’s run defense, helping Miami become forceful defense in 2021.