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The Miami Dolphins invest more in the secondary than just about anyone in the game. Miami spends a ton of money on getting the depth and talent in the secondary needed to counter the passing trends of today’s game — and the 2020 season was a great leap for the team in that regard. Headlining the secondary spending is Miami’s 1-2 punch at cornerback in Xavien Howard and Byron Jones: two of the highest paid corners in football.
And together, they make one of the three best cornerback duos in the game according to NFL.com’s Cythia Frelund. Frelund ranked the 10 best cornerback duos this past week and put the Dolphins’ pair at No. 3:
“Last season, the Dolphins only allowed 53 percent of passes outside the numbers to be completed, per Next Gen Stats, the lowest rate in the NFL. Xavien Howard, last year’s interception leader with 10, earned PFF’s second-highest CB grade (87.3). When Howard was within 3 feet of his pass catcher, according to computer vision, he got his body in the path of the throw at the highest rate among corners. Byron Jones’ two interceptions in 2020 doubled his career total. His effectiveness in man coverage increased as the 2020 season progressed; computer vision shows his yards allowed decreased later in the year (when taken in context of his injuries).” — Cynthia Frelund, NFL.com
The two pairs of cornerbacks to edge out Howard and Jones for the top spot include the Baltimore Ravens (Marlon Humphrey and Marcus Peters) and the New England Patriots (Stephon Gilmore and JC Jackson). It is great company to be in, but if the Dolphins are going to pass these two teams in next year’s exercise they’ll need to accomplish a few things:
- The continued renegotiation of Xavien Howard’s contract must keep him in Miami
- Byron Jones must continue to play better. He was fine in 2020 and his presence was missed early in the season but nevertheless Jones has room to improve off his first season in Miami
But even if the pair never climbs higher than here, this is still the kind of identity on the back end that you can win with in the NFL — the Dolphins have the talent they need. Because we all know the winning pedigrees of the Ravens and Patriots; so now the Dolphins need to put themselves into that stratosphere as a contending team.