The Miami Dolphins were hard at work this week to discover the right blend of talent to upgrade their defense and position the team to play competitive football in 2020.
With the AFC East division suddenly wide open, Miami aligning themselves to at least perform well within the division was a critical motive — one that could see an overachieving Dolphins team compete for a division title in Year 2 under Brian Flores. With Flores at the helm, the team’s defense has quickly become the identity of the roster — most notably in the secondary.
How does the Dolphins’ secondary stack up versus the rest of the AFC East? Here’s a look at each team’s projected defensive backfield.
Buffalo Bills
Cornerback: Tre’Davious White
Nickel: Taron Johnson
Free Safety: Micah Hyde
Strong Safety: Jordan Poyer
Cornerback: Josh Norman
Miami Dolphins
Cornerback: Byron Jones
Nickel: Noah Igbinoghene
Free Safety: Bobby McCain
Strong Safety: Eric Rowe
Cornerback: Xavien Howard
New England Patriots
Cornerback: Stephon Gilmore
Nickel: JC Jackson
Free Safety: Devin McCourty
Strong Safety: Patrick Chung
Cornerback: Jason McCourty
New York Jets
Cornerback: Pierre Desir
Nickel: Brian Poole
Free Safety: Marcus Maye
Strong Safety: Jamal Adams
Cornerback: Arthur Maulet
If you stacked the best overall talents in the division, the Patriots have the best individual cornerback in Stephon Gilmore and the Jets have the division’s best safety in Jamal Adams. Miami missing the top marks for individuals in both spots isn’t necessarily a surprise and it certainly isn’t an indictment of their secondary group. Specifically at cornerback, the Dolphins boast the best 1-2 punch in the division. Tacking on a 1st-round pick to play the nickel adds a significant boost, too — Igbinoghene’s development should afford the Dolphins the best cornerback group from top to bottom in the entire division.
If the Dolphins get healthy play from both safeties for 16 games, they’ll have a chance to field an average safety tandem. The Dolphins certainly don’t have the best safety tandem in the division — that honor still likely belongs to the Patriots with Patrick Chung, Devin McCourty and 2020 rookie Kyle Dugger. The Bills have good playmakers with the ball in the air but Hyde & Poyer are charged with 17 touchdowns allowed in coverage over the last two seasons according to Pro Football Reference — Poyer allowed an opposing QB rating of 117.8 in coverage last season.
If you pool the entire secondary together for each team, the Dolphins are likely the second best secondary unit from top to bottom in the division — and if Father Time causes more Patriots regression from key pieces, the Dolphins may well actually be the cream of the crop in the AFC East secondary race.