David Long – Syndication Server

Grading the Dolphins linebackers after their 2023 season

A look at Miami’s linebackers, and the year they had in 2023.

The Miami Dolphins finished their 2023 campaign with an 11-6 record and made the postseason for the second time in as many years under head coach Mike McDaniel. Unfortunately, it came to an end with a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the wild-card round.

While other teams are in the midst of their playoff run, it’s time to do some reflecting on the team in South Florida.

Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be reviewing and evaluating different positions for the Dolphins in 2023. Today, we’ll look at the linebackers.

Dolphins react to being eliminated from the playoffs

What players had to say about the loss and their elimination from the playoffs

The Miami Dolphins lost to the Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday night 26-7 which ended their 2023 season after just one playoff game.

Mike McDaniel’s team started the year off great, but a collapse against the Tennessee Titans late in the season and three straight losses to end it leaves a sour taste in everyone’s mouths around the organization and fan base.

After the game, McDaniel and a number of players, including quarterback Tua Tagovailoa addressed the loss and the season as a whole.

WATCH: Dolphins LB David Long mic’d up vs. Titans

No. 51 was mic’d up for his revenge game.

The Miami Dolphins took on the Tennessee Titans at Hard Rock Stadium on Monday night, and they walked away with a 28-27 loss to fall to 9-4 on the season.

Miami’s defense had been strong in recent weeks, but they collapsed down the stretch in this one, as they allowed Tennessee to erase a 14-point lead in just a few minutes.

Throughout the game against his former team, linebacker David Long Jr. was mic’d up, so the Dolphins’ content team could get his reactions to plays and hear some interactions with teammates past and present.

The best moment of the whole video may have been Long’s reaction to a play where he looked at Tennessee’s sidelined and just yelled “I’m here.”

The passion and emotion that Long plays with are evident, and this video did a great job capturing that.

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Studs and duds from Dolphins shocking loss to Titans

Handing out credit and criticism for Monday night’s loss.

The Miami Dolphins were defeated by the Tennesse Titans 28-27 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida on Monday.

Mike McDaniel’s team had capitalized on some mistakes late in the game, but they blew a two-score lead with less than three minutes to go to fall to 8-4 on the year and out of the top seed in the conference.

As we do after every game, let’s take a look at some of those who deserve credit and some who deserve criticism for their performances against the Titans.

What Dolphins are saying about Titans ahead of Week 14

What the Dolphins are saying about the Titans ahead of their Week 14 game.

Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel has done his homework on the Tennessee Titans ahead of their Week 14 matchup on Monday night.

And, more specifically, he’s done his homework on Titans rookie signal-caller, Will Levis, who he heaped praise on during the week in what was nothing short of a thoughtful yet funny review of the Kentucky product.

“[Levis] can throw the ball far and they like to do a lot of it. I think they have currently – the Titans offense – little-known fact, I think they lead the league in plus-20 yard throws, 22 percent of their passes, I believe – you can check me on that, because I’m pretty sure it’s right (laughter) – are of that depth, so they challenge you,” McDaniel said. “It’s cool to watch a guy come into a team with other players that are very much capable and what I’ve learned from afar is that it’s not about him. He was just chopping wood, but you can learn a lot by just watching and listening. And you watch how guys play with him on the field and you can tell he’s earned the respect of veteran players. And you either have that or you don’t. As a quarterback, there’s nowhere to hide. So it’s cool to watch him progress and I think he is capable of making, I think pretty much every throw.”

Now, a look at what else the Dolphins are saying about the Titans going into this contest.

Dolphins’ David Long feeling extra motivated ahead of Titans game

Dolphins LB David Long says he has “a little bit” extra motivation going into the Week 14 game against his old team, the Titans.

When the Tennessee Titans travel to Hard Rock Stadium to take on the Miami Dolphins on Monday night, it will be linebacker David Long’s first game against his old team since leaving in free agency this past offseason.

Long was a very good player for the Titans, ascending from a sixth-round pick and backup to an effective starter over his four seasons with the team.

The issue, however, was Long’s ability to stay healthy. After the 2022 season, he was called out specifically by head coach Mike Vrabel as one of the team’s “repeat offenders” with soft-tissue injuries.

It isn’t clear if the Titans simply didn’t try to re-sign Long or if he chose to leave, but a few months after Vrabel’s comment, the linebacker signed in Miami, where he inked a two-year, $10 million deal.

After signing with the Dolphins, Long said he had an even bigger chip on his shoulder thanks to the narrative Vrabel’s comment created.

“If you watch film since my rookie year to the end of this year, every play, I lay it out on the line,” Long said in March, per John Glennon of Nashville Post. “So that was a surprise to me. I feel like it kind of created a narrative a little bit as far as how I take care of my body. If you ask anybody, I’m a first one in and last guy out type of guy. So I know he knows that as well.

“It really just put a bigger chip [on my shoulder] because I know what type of player I am. That wasn’t discussed to me, as well. So it was a lot. I took it with a grain of salt. I’m not really much a media person like ‘Why did you single me out?’ or whatever. I’m going to roll with it and I’m just going to get back to work.”

So far, Long’s time with the Dolphins has been a success. He hasn’t missed a single game and he’s the highest-graded run defender in the NFL, per Pro Football Focus.

When asked if he has extra motivation in playing his former team this week, Long admitted he does.

“Yeah, a little bit, a little bit,” Long said during the week, per Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. “But [Titans head coach Mike Vrabel] knows the type of player I am. He knows what he’s going to get and I plan to deliver that.”

Vrabel tried to clarify his comment on Long when asked about it in the week leading up to the Week 14 contest.

“No, I’m not going to go back — answering questions about injuries,” Vrabel said. “I’m just pointing out that when you list all the injuries, that some of those guys had the same injury. They came back and had the same injury.

“I really enjoyed my time with David. Loved coaching him, I’m excited to see him. I’m happy for him. Of course, I’m happy for him… However it was phrased or said, it was the same injury. The guy was trying to come back and had the same injury and couldn’t play. So that was, I guess, the answer.”

Extra motivation or not, Vrabel knows Long will make things more difficult for his offense on Monday, especially in the run game.

“He persevered here and he’s gone down and got a new opportunity,” Vrabel said. “David’s been active. He runs around, he’s instinctive, he triggers, and we’ll have to block him. We’ll have to block him if we want to run the football.”

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Packers claim CB David Long off waivers from Panthers

The Packers are claiming cornerback David Long off waivers from the Panthers.

The Green Bay Packers claimed 2019 third-round pick David Long off of waivers from the Carolina Panthers on Monday, per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.

The Packers will be Long’s third team in 2023. He signed with the Las Vegas Raiders in March and was claimed off of waivers by the Panthers in November.

The Los Angeles Rams made Long the 79th overall pick in 2019. The 2018 Big Ten All-American at Michigan won a Super Bowl as a member of the Rams in 2021.

Long (5-11, 196) has appeared in 63 career regular season games and made 12 starts. He spent two seasons with current Packers defensive coordinator Joe Barry while Barry was the linebackers coach and assistant head coach in Los Angeles.

Long has one career interception, eight pass breakups and 96 tackles over five seasons. He’s played 1,219 defensive snaps and 513 special teams snaps.

Coming out of Michigan, Long produced a Relative Athletic Score (RAS) of 9.22 out of 10.0.

Claiming Long suggests the Packers are dealing with more injuries at cornerback or that Eric Stokes still isn’t ready to come off injured reserve. The team has an open spot on the 53-man roster after releasing running back James Robinson and receiver Bo Melton (both were re-signed to the practice squad) and activating Darnell Savage from injured reserve

Long was waived by the Panthers on Saturday. He will need to pass a physical in Green Bay before the Packers add him to the 53-man roster.

Long is the second former Rams draft pick to join the Packers during the regular season. Green Bay signed Robert Rochell off the Panthers practice squad in late October.

Dolphins LB on Commanders offense: They struggle with the ‘routine parts’

Dolphins linebacker has some revealing comments regarding Washington’s offense.

It’s another lost season for the Washington Commanders. After Sunday’s 45-15 loss to the Miami Dolphins, Washington fell to 4-9, guaranteeing that head coach Ron Rivera would not have one winning record in his four seasons as head coach.

There have been a lot of lost seasons for Washington over the years. And in those lost seasons, opposing players often sound off about the simplicity of Washington’s offense or defense.

After Sunday’s loss, Dolphins linebacker David Long Jr. spoke to the media and offered some revealing thoughts about the offense.

“All you really have to do to defend this team is just be disciplined,” Long said via Nicki Jhabvala of The Washington Post. “They kind of struggle with the routine parts. When we watched them play, their best stuff was when [Sam] Howell was scrambling, or they moved the pocket and just let him try to make plays. There’s gonna be rollouts and breaking the pocket, plaster. But if you just stay on your man or find somebody when you don’t have nobody, it’s really easy to defeat stuff like that.”

That quote is pretty damning. Coming from an opposing player, it’s much more detailed than some of the nonsense the Giants said when they beat the Commanders. If Long and the Dolphins saw this, what do other teams see? And what is offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy doing to counteract this?

Howell has been excellent off-schedule. Bieniemy doesn’t move the pocket enough for Howell, often keeping him in shotgun.

Long wasn’t done. He had the following to say about the receivers.

‘They have some good dudes,” he said. “Terry [McLaurin], [Curtis] Samuel is cool, too. But I wouldn’t say that they have a dominant dude that you come in saying, ‘Oh, we gotta make sure to stop bro.’ I say that respectfully, too.'”

Here’s another quote about McLaurin that stood out.

“Terry makes some great plays, but it’s not like they force it to him or go out of their way to get him the ball so he can be contained,” Long said.

He’s not wrong. When you see others saying someone shut down McLaurin, that’s not always the case. Often, it’s Washington shutting down McLaurin. One of the knocks on Bieniemy is that he hasn’t done enough to force the action to McLaurin — Washington’s best offensive player.

The Commanders have a lot of problems, but they are much deeper than Howell.

Panthers claim CB David Long Jr off waivers from Raiders

David Long Jr never hit the unemployment line. Because he was cut after the trade deadline, he was put on waivers. And the Panthers swooped in the claim the veteran former Raiders and Rams cornerback.

Long was signed by the Raiders this offseason to compete for a starting outside cornerback spot on a team that, at the time of his signing, had no sure starters other than Nate Hobbs in the slot.

Other cornerbacks signed by the Raiders in the week following the start of free agency included Brandon Facyon and Duke Shelley.

Later they drafted Jakorian Bennett in the fourth round and signed veteran Marcus Peters.

Shelley was then waived in the final round of cuts and signed on with the Rams, Facyson was placed on injured reserve, and Long made the team, appearing in all eight games while starting one. Now none are currently on the active roster.

Meanwhile holdovers Amik Robertson and Tyler Hall remain on the roster and there’s no telling if or when Facyson will come off of IR.

Raiders release CB David Long Jr

The first big move of the Antonio Pierce era as interim head coach, not surprisingly, was to sign a linebacker. That linebacker is Jaylon Smith who last played for the Giants under currently Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham.

With that addition, the team needed to clear a roster spot. The man who got the boot was David Long Jr.

The veteran cornerback was signed this offseason after four seasons with the LA Rams. He appeared in every game this season, starting one game and recording one pass breakup and 12 combined tackles.

Long was given the nod at cornerback over Tyler Hall the past two games. But in the end it was Hall who was retained while Long was cut.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Long was invited back to the practice squad should he not be picked up by another team.

His release puts the Raiders cornerbacks as Marcus Peters, Nate Hobbs, Amik Robertson, Jakorian Bennett, and Tyler Hall.

Brandon Facyson has been on injured reserve since the start of the season and is eligible to return when he is ready.