Tag: Christian Wilkins

Constructing the ideal pass rush group with Dolphins’ 2020 personnel

Constructing the ideal pass rush group with Dolphins’ 2020 personnel

The Miami Dolphins’ 2019 pass rush was one of the bigger points of frustration for the roster. Even when coach Brian Flores was willing to dial up pressure, the team rarely found opportunities to collapse the pocket or crash off the edge and get home to opposing quarterbacks. With that in mind, it should come as no surprise at all that the Dolphins were aggressive this offseason in upgrading their problematic rush group. And by the time the Dolphins were done with the 2020 NFL Draft, the team was able to outright cut DE Taco Charlton and trade DE Charles Harris to the Atlanta Falcons for a future 7th-round selection.

But what will the ideal rush group for this defense look like? The team is likely to implement a lot of looks with the versatility of their personnel — linebacker Kyle Van Noy is a viable threat off the ball or on the edge and newly acquired defensive ends Shaq Lawson and Emmanuel Ogbah offer plenty of power.

When the chips are down on 3rd and long, what should Dolphins fans expect to see in the team’s pass rush in 2020? If the team were to implement a 4-man front on passing downs, it is likely we’ll see this personnel often for the Dolphins.

RUSH LB – Kyle Van Noy
DE – Shaq Lawson
DT – Christian Wilkins
DT – Raekwon Davis
DE – Emmanuel Ogbah

With Van Noy crashing off the edge, Lawson aligned in the B-gap, Wilkins shaded on the center and two long, powerful, twitchy bodies in Davis and Ogbah working off the backside, the Dolphins will have the bodies needed to collapse the pocket around opposing quarterbacks — a skill they sorely lacked in 2020. Davis’ addition as a 2020 2nd-round selection came as a bit of a surprise, but he has the penetration ability and upside that fellow defensive tackle Davon Godchaux does not. The interior due of Wilkins and Davis should allow for frequent one on one matchups across the board — and from there Miami will hope their upgraded personnel can score the wins they couldn’t in 2019.

Watch Dolphins DL Christian Wilkins’ hardwood highlights

Ever wonder what Dolphins 2019 rookie Christian Wilkins’ hardwood highlights looked like? Well, now you know.

What, you thought Miami Dolphins tight end Mike Gesicki was the only one on the team who could throw down on the hardwood?! The Dolphins gave some love to Gesicki a few weeks back for a spectacular highlight of dunks and blocks from Gesicki’s high school days — and now they’ve given a little flashback love to another young upstart of Miami’s 2020 offseason roster, defensive tackle Christian Wilkins.

Gesicki’s highlight was more explosive, but the scouting report on Wilkins is still impressive none the less. Good handles, effective low post maneuvers — but who are we trying to kid? For as smooth as Wilkins looks ducking in to the basket, we much prefer his highlights on the gridiron.

The energetic Wilkins enjoyed a strong finish to his rookie season, avoiding the rookie wall that claims so many youngsters in the NFL. If anything, Wilkins actually broke through the rookie wall mid-season — helping to reinforce why the Dolphins chose to draft him with their first pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.

With a year of NFL service under his belt, Wilkins can now look to continue building up his repertoire to slice into opposing backfields — hopefully with a little more contact than what his hardwood highlights offered up along the way.

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Two Dolphins named to top 50 NFL rookies of 2019

The Miami Dolphins’ rookie class of 2019 had two members make the cut for the top 50 rookies of the season.

USA TODAY’s Draft Wire has released their ranking of the top 50 rookies of the 2019 NFL season — and Dolphins fans should be pleased to know that there was some respect put on the Miami Dolphins’ class of 2019. No Dolphins cracked the upper echelon of the rankings, but there are two Dolphins representatives on the top-50 list.

1st-round defensive tackle Christian Wilkins and undrafted free agent wide receiver Preston Williams where Miami’s recognized talent.

In a perfect world, perhaps undrafted free agent cornerback Nik Needham sneaks into the top 50, but there should — generally speaking — be no complaints for Miami’s representation here. The Dolphins’ rookie class was lean in 2019 after a mediocre 7-9 finish left the Dolphins stranded in the middle of the 1st-round as they undertook a late winter regime change.

With just two selections in the top-75 of the 2019 NFL Draft, Miami was always going to have their hands full getting a big haul in 2019. But the team appears to have struck gold with both Williams and Needham, with both undrafted free agents starting and finishing their seasons in very different ways.

Williams was a standout star from the beginning of camp and was on pace to challenge for between 900 and 1,000 receiving yards before an injury against the Jets in Miami’s 8th game cost him the rest of his season. Needham? He continuously improved throughout the course of the year, ultimately climaxing with some strong play at cornerback as the team tried to withstand weekly losses to the secondary.

And then there’s Wilkins, the face of Miami’s 2019 draft class. He started slow, but ultimately found the disruptive qualities that made him a tour de force at Clemson.

And with two included in the top-50 rookies of 2019 and one questionable snub, there’s little doubt the Dolphins’ 2019 rookie class will have plenty to say about the turnaround in 2020, too.

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Dolphins shut out of Pro Football Writers’ All-Rookie team

The Miami Dolphins failed to get any representation on the Pro Football Writers’ All-Rookie team in 2019.

The Miami Dolphins’ rookie class was hardly a traditional group. The Dolphins only made two selections in the top-100 (Christian Wilkins and Michael Deiter) and saw a vast number of undrafted free agents step into the fray and gather snaps.

But snaps and opportunities don’t necessarily equate to accolades, as the Miami Dolphins found out this week when the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA) released their annual rookie honors and All-Rookie Team. There wasn’t a single Dolphins player on the list.

The most obvious potential snub for the Dolphins was Wilkins — who finished the season with 56 total tackles, 2.0 sacks, 3 tackles for loss, 2 passes defensed and one receiving touchdown. In a crowded defensive line class, it’s understandable for Wilkins to be left off the top four and be left off the list, but yet one of the players who made the list in favor of Wilkins was made it a curious decision.

New York Giants defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, Wilkins’ college teammate, posted 38 tackles, 2.5 sacks, 3 tackles for loss and 1 pass defensed and yet made the list over Wilkins — despite playing nearly equal snaps and having less production. Why? It’s easy to presume that playing in a New York market helped Lawrence’s case, but it is still none the less confusing to see Wilkins bumped out of the All-Rookie team based on visibility.

Miami’s other viable candidate would have been wide receiver Preston Williams, who went down at mid-season while pushing for a potential 1,000 yard receiving season with the Dolphins. He, of course, got preempted by tow talented and productive receivers — it is hard for the Dolphins to be too upset but his absence.

With triple the picks in the top-100 in 2020, it should stand within reason for Miami fans to hope, or rather expect, to see some Dolphins on next year’s PFWA All-Rookie team.

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Here’s all seven Fat Guy Touchdowns scored in the 2019 season

More than ever in NFL history, the big guys are making it into the end zone! Here are all seven Fat Guy Touchdowns in the 2019 NFL season.

Most times, when an offensive lineman reports as eligible, opposing defenses don’t take it seriously. The 2019 NFL season is when that should change, or more defensive coordinators will be caught unaware. Because there has been a rash of Fat Guy Touchdowns scored this season — there had been six through the first 16 weeks of the season, and against the Buccaneers in Week 17, Falcons offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter dialed up this bit of magic — a 35-yard touchdown pass from Matt Ryan to offensive tackle Ty Sambrailo.

We stand in awe.

And yes, it is fair to say that the Bucs blew this coverage in all sorts of ways.

Would you like to see every Fat Guy Touchdown scored this season? Touchdown Wire has you covered there. Because, as John Madden said in The Replacements, “I love to see a fat guy score. Because first you get a fat guy spike, then you get the fat guy dance.”

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Dolphins’ Christian Wilkins didn’t disappoint while mic’d up Week 16

Miami Dolphins rookie DT Christian Wilkins was mic’d up against the Bengals and you’re going to want to see the highlights.

This is honestly “Pay Per View” quality content and if the Dolphins promised they’d put a microphone on rookie defensive tackle Christian Wilkins on every game, we’d probably the fee. Wilkins’ exciting day in Week 16 against the Cincinnati Bengals was made even more entertaining courtesy of being strapped with a wire — the end result is a few minutes of trash talking glory for Dolphins fans everywhere.

Wilkins’ passion for the game was referenced as a big selling point from this coaching staff when the decision was made to draft him in the 1st-round, That enthusiasm comes through loud and clear as Wilkins sings, hums, quips and smack talks his way through Miami’s thrilling 38-35 win against Cincinnati.

Whether it was clarifying with Bengals offensive lineman Michael Jordan whether or not he was the “real” Michael Jordan, catcalling the Bengals kicker to miss the upcoming kick, singing “It Takes Two” after blowing up a double team or insisting to Bengals defensive back Shawn Williams that he was mad just before the snap, Wilkins brought it on Sunday with his play and his smack talk.

Consider this our formal petition to wire Wilkins for the Patriots game. And every game of the 2020 season. And every game after that. If this is the content we can come to expect, why not?

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What does Dolphins DL Christian Wilkins credit for recent surge?

Miami Dolphins rookie DT Christian Wilkins is turning it up a notch as the season comes to a close. How has he done it?

Miami Dolphins rookie defensive tackle Christian Wilkins leads all rookie defensive tackles this season with 53 tackles. But if one were to ask Wilkins where he takes pride in his rookie season, the former Clemson Tiger won’t tell you about anything that comes from the stat sheet — he’d rather tell you about the progression he’s made from the start of the year to now.

And he’s right. Wilkins started this season slow, there’s no denying that. Pad level was a problem. Stacking and shedding blocks was a problem. But somewhere around midseason, the light bulb seemed to come on for Wilkins. And he hasn’t looked back.

Wilkins credits the improvement to just being a sponge and soaking up as much information as possible during his rookie year.

“How much have I learned? More than I learned earning two degrees at a top-20 public institution in college in four years. This year’s been so big for me just learning everything on the field, off the field, just how to manage things, learning different techniques and just learning so much about the game and just trying to process so much information. It’s a lot,” said Wilkins earlier this week when asked about his progression.

“Just even watching tape of me from like Week 1, Week 2, it looked like playing Baltimore, playing the Patriots; I’m like, ‘who is that dude?’ Or like even in preseason, I’m like, ‘my goodness, that is just bad ball.’ Then seeing me the last three or four weeks, midseason, it’s like, ‘okay, I can recognize myself.’ It’s hard to (watch) seeing what I did in preseason and the first few weeks of the season.”

With a year of seasoning under his belt and hopefully a more dynamic pass rush threat on the outside, the potential 2020 breakout for Wilkins as more of a disruptive presence is an exciting prospect. There’s no denying that the Wilkins of the past month or so has started living up to the top-15 draft status that Miami elected to place on him. But more finishes in the opposing backfield will help quiet the doubters for good. Wilkins only has one more chance to make a splash this season, here’s to him getting after Patriots quarterback Tom Brady a bit before Wilkins’ successful rookie season comes to a close.

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Dolphins rookie Christian Wilkins REALLY likes celebrating touchdowns

Dolphins DL Christian Wilkins wore a microphone against the Bengals and it did not disappoint.

A few words of advice:

Find you someone who loves you as much as Christian Wilkins loves celebrating touchdowns. 

That’s it. That’s our best advice. The Miami Dolphins strapped a microphone of Christian Wilkins for Week 16’s showdown against the Cincinnati Bengal and things went exactly how you may have predicted. Wilkins was a riot.

The team’s 1st-round pick flashed a ton of his passion for football, which was a key personality trait that drew the Dolphins towards Wilkins throughout the pre-draft process.

It is impressive to watch Wilkins continue to get better throughout the course of his rookie season, but also to watch him come into his own and show more and more personality on the field of play. They often say rookies are just treading water during year one in the NFL and perhaps that was true early on for Wilkins.

But not anymore. To see him having so much fun on a 4-11 football team gets you really excited about what it is going to look like once the Dolphins have a chance to further execute their rebuild plan and vision for what the roster should look like.

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Dolphins DL Christian Wilkins joined an exclusive club in Week 16

Miami Dolphins rookie defensive tackle Christian Wilkins joined an exclusive club in Week 16 against the Bengals.

Miami Dolphins rookie defensive tackle Christian Wilkins has shown steady progression throughout the course of his rookie season, an encouraging sign for the team’s 2019 1st-round selection. Many rookies hit a late season rookie wall, where as Wilkins seems to be playing some of his best football in recent weeks. He’s dialed up the penetration and disruption and on Sunday against the Bengals, Wilkins got into the action as a fullback on the offensive side of the ball, as well.

Oh, right. He scored a touchdown after catching a ball in the flat on the goal line, by the way. And in scoring, Wilkins became the 3rd player of the 2010s to score a receiving touchdown and record a sack in the same game, according to the research of Brett Brecheisen, who works football communications for the Dolphins.

Of course, this stat is mostly a fun factoid and we certainly shouldn’t be gearing up to put Wilkins on the same trajectory as J.J. Watt as an overall player. But Wilkins has gotten some pushback from fans who expected more out of the #13 overall selection in the 2019 NFL Draft — every bit of positivity and production helps to quiet that nonsense.

Wilkins has played this season on a defensive line with minimal to no push from the outside, which allows opposing offenses to clog the middle of the pocket and make life difficult for anyone looking to create penetration on the inside. Even the best of the best need a little bit of help from their teammates to open up lanes and play complimentary football. And yet over the course of the last few weeks, Miami has healthy scratched DEs Charles Harris and Taco Charlton on multiple occasions.

Don’t judge Christian Wilkins based on his 2019 season, although the arrow has steadily pointed up and progress has been made all year. Instead, celebrate the momentum Wilkins has built through the second half of the season. And reserve any lingering questions for until the Dolphins get a single player capable of winning on the edge in the pass rush.

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9 things we learned from Week 16’s Sunday of the 2019 NFL season

One coach should be fired. One officiating crew needs to be suspended. And, playoff permutations! Here are 9 things we learned in Week 16.

With just one week left in the 2019 regular season, here are nine things we learned from Week 16’s Sunday.

In the end, firing Jason Garrett is best for all involved. 

(Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports)

As far as pure roster talent is concerned, it’s tough to top the Cowboys — especially on offense. Dak Prescott is one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks, and when that offense is humming, running back Ezekiel Elliott and receiver Amari Cooper can make the same claims. They do their work behind one of the league’s premier offensive lines, and on defense, there’s enough talent to be above-average.

So, when a team like that stands at 7-8 and loses a key divisional matchup as the Cowboys did to the Eagles on Sunday afternoon… well, maybe it’s time to isolate the coaching. In this 17-9 loss to the Eagles, many were wondering why Elliott and Cooper were on the bench at specific (and important) times in favor of guys like Tavon Austin and Tony Pollard. Per Jane Slater of the NFL Network, Dallas’ coaching staff didn’t bench Cooper per se — they wanted him off the field in specific instances because they felt the Eagles’ defensive backs were struggling more with smaller, quicker receivers. Cooper caught five passes for 106 yards the first time Dallas and Philadelphia met this season, but we digress. Austin finished the day with one catch for five yards, and while Randall Cobb did catch five passes for 73 yards, he was off the field on one crucial fourth-down situation. When the Cowboys went into hurry-up mode, they apparently had issues substituting the receivers they wanted back in.

As to why Dallas only ran the ball 16 times, well, we’ll just leave this here.

The Cowboys can still make the playoffs if they beat the Redskins and the Eagles lose to the Giants in Week 17, but if not, this will be the fourth time in Jason Garrett’s nine seasons that his team has lost what would be a division-winning game in Weeks 16 or 17. If Dallas doesn’t make the playoffs, it’s hard to imagine that Jerry Jones has a choice but to let Garrett go.

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