The Miami Dolphins’ 2020 season figures to be a whole lot more fun than the 2019 year — even if the team doesn’t rack up wins at an exponentially faster rate than last year’s team did. The Dolphins battled the narrative last season that the team was “tanking” — and for a while it appeared as though perhaps general manager Chris Grier had gone too far in tearing down the roster. There’s little question of Grier’s intent these days — the Dolphins were much more aggressive in adding talent and took advantage of the team’s embarrassment of riches in the NFL Draft to add eleven new players into the fray.
Each unit for the Miami Dolphins figures to be, at the very least, equal to what they were last year. No position group can be pointed to as getting worse, as Miami didn’t lose significant free agents and retooled several key positions with young talent.
One area of the Dolphins’ roster that should be vastly improved? The secondary. Not only will Miami welcome back the injured Bobby McCain and Xavien Howard, but the team also added one of the best press corners in football via free agency in Byron Jones. Oh, right — and the team also invested a 1st-round draft selection into the secondary; adding DB Noah Igbinoghene to presumably man the nickel cornerback role on defense.
Miami came out aggressively to pick up the needed pieces to be a force in pass defense, but who will be the cream of the crop in creating turnovers?
DB Bobby McCain
McCain missed the second half of the 2019 season but still managed to tally two interceptions during his time on the field — tying his career high. There’s plenty of ceiling for more turnovers, but McCain will need to acclimate himself fully to the safety position. If he continues to experience growing pains, he may not reach his potential as a back-end roaming presence in the secondary.
Bold prediction: 2 interceptions (T-2nd on team)
CB Xavien Howard
Xavien Howard, on the other hand, feels like an easy lock to claim this victory — right? Howard was a lockdown presence in man coverage in 2018 and finished tied for the NFL’s top interception total (7) despite missing the final 4 games of the season. If (and that’s a big if) Miami gets 16 games out of Howard this year, he’ll get his fair share of turnovers — and could challenge for a return to the Pro Bowl.
And, unlike past seasons, Howard will have a formidable cornerback across from him to help prompt targets his way. The only question is what the balance of targets will look like between him and the other serious contender for leading the Dolphins in interceptions…
Bold prediction: 4 interceptions (tied for team lead)
CB Byron Jones
Ignore the fact that Jones has just two career interceptions. He was only thrown at 64 times last season (and barely gave up 50% completions against him in coverage). Jones is a potent press-man defender and putting him on the field with Howard has the makings of a potentially special duo.
Jones will get more opportunities as well, given the presence of Howard — it is a mutually beneficial relationship that should see the duo log their fair share. Will one get more than the other? For now, we’ll leave them tied.
Bold prediction: 4 interceptions (tied for team lead)