Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Not just a number
“We’re two different guys. I’m not a big, flashy guy. I’m a domy-job type of guy.” Spence out to deflect comparisons to Suh
DAVIE — There’s a level of irony to the fact that the only veteran defensive tackle the Miami Dolphins added after cutting Ndamukong Suh this offseason has been forced to wear the same number as the team’s discarded Pro Bowl defensive lineman.
Akeem Spence openly admitted he’d prefer not to wear Suh’s old No. 93, but that was the only number available when he joined the Dolphins the week after the trade that was done to fortify one of the team’s thinnest units.
“I feel funny about it. I’ve been 97 my whole career,” said Spence, who joins his third team in his sixth season in the NFL.
Spence knows the comparisons to Suh, who signed a one-year deal worth $14.5 million with the Los Angeles Rams after the Dolphins released him, will come because everywhere he turns people keep bringing up Suh to him and his fellow defensive tackles.
So the former University of Illinois standout attempted to tackle the comparison head on, as if it were a tailback coming through the A-gap for which he was responsible.
“We’re two different guys. I’m not a big, flashy guy,” said Spence, who contributed 39 tackles, three sacks and forced one fumble in the 16 games (11 starts) he played with Detroit last season. “I’m a do-my-job type of guy. Control my gap and make plays when I can.”
However, Spence is aware he’ll have to step up and become the leader of the defen-
sive tackle unit because he’s the most experienced player in that group, which is headlined by Jordan Phillips, a 2015 second-round draft pick, and young defensive tackles Davon Godchaux and Vincent Taylor, both coming off their rookie seasons.
After not selecting a defensive tackle in the 2018 draft, the Dolphins began shopping around for a veteran to sign, then defensive line coach Kris Kocurek approached Miami’s decisionmakers about trading for Spence, who was on the market because Detroit was switching schemes, going from a 4-3 front to a 3-4 front.
Spence, who is 6-foot-1 and 307 pounds, doesn’t have the girth to be a nose tackle and man the center of a three-man line. He’s not suited to serve as a 3-4 defensive end, either. That’s why the Lions accepted a 2019 seventh-round pick from Miami for Spence, who also restructured his contract before joining the Dolphins, accepting a $575,000 pay reduction on the second year of the three-year, $9 million deal he signed with Detroit in 2017.
“Spence is a hard-working guy,” said Kocurek, who is beginning his 10th season as a defensive line coach in the NFL, and his first with the Dolphins. “Obviously, I put my name on him to bring him here.
“He fits our style of play. He fits the culture we’re trying to build in our locker room. He’s a team guy. He works really hard and he’s really quick-twitched to play the type of aggressive defense that we want to play.”
Spence, who has started 41 NFL games and recorded 135 tackles and 8.5 sacks in his career, has openly accepted his role as mentor to Miami’s stable of young defensive tackles, and views himself as a translator for Kocurek, who has the reputation for being an emotion coach.
“Like I tell the guys, if it’s anything that you want to know about me or Kris, just ask, because I’m here to help. I’m here to help the guys progress,” Spence said.
“Sometimes Kris gets hollering and they don’t know what he’s talking about and I pull them to the side and tell them ‘This is what he means.’ ”
The talent Spence has seen from his new teammates has him optimistic that Miami’s defensive line will produce more than last year’s 30 sacks, and he says the secret ingredient will be a frequent rotation of defensive linemen in and out of the game.
The Dolphins plan to utilize a hockey-style approach with their defensive linemen, sending players onto the field in full-unit substitutions that play an equal number of snaps.
Spence is competing with Phillips, Godchaux and Taylor to determine Miami’s starting defensive tackle, but Spence is certain the backups will be on the field just as much, knowing Kocurek and the approach he prefers.
“I’m just trying to help the guys around me become better,” Spence said. “I’ve two great edge rushers beside me in [Cameron] Wake and Robert Quinn, so that will help.”