New Dolphins hype video will have you ready to see secondary in action

The Miami Dolphins secondary is going to look like a whole new unit after the 2020 offseason. Miami spent aggressively to upgrade the pieces in the back-end of the defense; which figures to be the team’s identity given the investments made and the background of several key coaches — including Brian Flores and new defensive coordinator Josh Boyer.

And, to celebrate the Dolphins’ vision of a fearsome secondary, the Dolphins’ media team dropped a fantastic hype video to celebrate the “monsters” prowling around in the secondary for Miami. We guarantee you’ll be ready for some Miami Dolphins football after seeing what the team has cooked up.

Monsters are real 👻 pic.twitter.com/eUXK8Ninmf

— Miami Dolphins (@MiamiDolphins) July 22, 2020

Some of the best defenses and defensive units over time have earned themselves nicknames. The most recent universal nickname for a defensive group is Seattle’s ‘Legion of Boom’, which brought headaches to opposing offenses each week in the mid-2010s. In a perfect world, Miami’s core identity in the secondary leads to play worthy of a nickname of their own — in which case there’s probably significant team success ahead. The NFL, now more than ever, is a passing league. Miami seems to have embraced the value of coverage over the value of pass rush — with both units touting the same endgame of shutting down opposing quarterbacks.

After years of Cameron Wake and a cast of complimentary players around him here in Miami, perhaps this is the right move to upgrade the Dolphins’ defense and finally get them to a point where they can consistently rank among the league’s better coverage defenses. We’ll get our first taste of the Dolphins in just over seven weeks — as the NFL’s season is scheduled to open on Thursday night seven weeks from today.

Fearless forecast for Dolphins CB Xavien Howard’s 2020 season

Miami Dolphins cornerback Xavien Howard didn’t quite experience the kind of 2019 season that fans and coaches were hoping for. After tying for the NFL lead in interceptions in the 2018 season, Howard seemed poised to play a starring role in Brian Flores’ new defense. But things never really got on track for Howard, who only played in 5 games throughout the course of the season amid lingering issues in his knee.

By the end of the 2019 season, Howard had undergone surgery and found himself in trouble with the law after a domestic violence incident — hardly the starring role anyone from the Dolphins had in mind upon paying Howard a lofty contract last summer. Howard is hoping the new decade will result in putting a frustrating 2019 behind him — the charges in that domestic violence incident were dropped in February and Howard has since learned he will not face discipline from the NFL for his conduct.

But can he live up to expectations that come with being one of the highest paid cornerbacks in football?

Here’s what we predicted for Xavien Howard in 2019 last summer — and what we should expect in 2020 with Byron Jones playing across from him in the Dolphins’ secondary:

Dolphins Wire 2019 fearless forecast: 55 total tackles (career high), 6 interceptions and 18 passes defensed (career high)

2019 actual statistics (5 games): 17 total tackles, 1 interception, 4 passes broken up
(2019 16-game pace: 54 total tackles, 3 interceptions, 13 passes defensed)

Howard’s health isn’t necessarily guaranteed this season, either. He’s now had knee issues in three of his four career NFL seasons — and the fear that he will have additional setbacks is likely to continue to linger.

But if we were to assume Howard is back to full strength after what will be some eight months of recovery from his latest procedure, Howard should get plenty of targets in the passing game with Jones playing across the line from him. And given Howard’s aggressive mentality, that may be a double-edged sword — we may see Howard give up more plays in coverage as a byproduct of getting more targets and baiting opposing quarterbacks to throw his way.

Assuming Howard does indeed play in 16 games, we feel good about his ability to return to making splash plays in the secondary — although we won’t be quite to bold as to predict career highs across the board for Miami in 2020. Our fearless forecast for Howard in coverage this season is as follows:

45 total tackles, 4 interceptions and 14 passes defensed (career high)

Report: Dolphins CB Xavien Howard won’t be suspended for domestic incident

The Miami Dolphins have spent significant resources this offseason to upgrade their secondary — but a lingering subplot for Miami’s offseason was the ongoing status of cornerback Xavien Howard. Howard, who entered the 2019 season as the team’s best remaining talent after a significant roster purge, was lost for the year due to a knee injury — and then made headlines for all the wrong reasons after a domestic dispute with his fiancé in December had Howard facing domestic battery charges.

Those charges, which were dropped in February, left Howard to the jurisdiction of the league; which has taken steps to hold players accountable for inappropriate behavior off the field. But now a report seems to indicate that the Miami Dolphins will be with their standout defender for the start of the season.

Hal Habib of the Palm Beach Post has reported that Howard will not be disciplined by the league, citing a league spokesperson.

Provided the league does not have a change of heart, the Dolphins will be set to sport one of the best cornerback pairings in all of football for Week 1 of the 2020 season — Howard along with new signee Byron Jones gives the Dolphins a physical duo to play press coverage and potentially allow Brian Flores’ physical defense to shine this season with many new faces. But, more importantly, the Dolphins will also be hoping Howard has made the changes in his life off the field to align himself to be in a more healthy place. While his football availability is a win for the Dolphins, it is much more important for Howard to better himself as a result of this incident.

Howard is due nearly $12M in salary this season for the Dolphins — but the team does have a reasonable out after the 2021 season that would result in less than $3M in dead cap if the team deemed it necessary to move on for Howard. Staying healthy and, more importantly, avoiding bad situations off the field, will go a long way in Miami maintaining a long-term relationship with the former Baylor product.

Dolphins cornerback Xavien Howard’s weekend well spent

2019 was not kind to Miami Dolphins cornerback Xavien Howard. Forget about the knee issues that cost Howard the vast majority of the 2019 season, Howard’s year ended with a domestic battery charge stemming from an incident in late December with his fiancée. And while the charges were dropped in February of 2020, the sting of Howard’s conduct still lingers and the Dolphins may end up hearing from the league offices that Howard must sit out time for violating the league’s personal conduct policy.

Howard has hopefully reflected on the incident and made some positive changes — we may never know the extent of what Howard does or doesn’t do to improve his home life. But, at the very least, Howard did provide a kind gesture in the public eye this weekend to those in need. Howard was seen, courtesy of ESPN’s Cameron Wolfe, providing free breakfasts, masks and autographs in South Florida alongside ‘Sunday’s Eatery’, a black-owned restaurant located in Miami Gardens.

Dolphins CB Xavien Howard spent his morning giving out free breakfast, masks and autographs to the South Florida community at Sunday’s Eatery, a black-owned soul food restaurant. One of several athletes making a difference in their communities during the pandemic. pic.twitter.com/uJpPxEUlZI

— Cameron Wolfe (@CameronWolfe) June 13, 2020

Amid the heightened awareness for social equality and the push to support the Black community, purchasing from Black-owned business has become a popular way to show support — so Howard is offering positive influence on multiple fronts by aligning with ‘Sunday’s Eatery’. And amid the economic downturn as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, jobs (and by extension, food), have been harder to come by for many.

In these trying times, positivity is a much welcomed sight. Kudos to Howard for investing some of his time this weekend to bring a positive change to Miami Gardens.

Who will lead the Miami Dolphins in interceptions in 2020?

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)

Report: Dolphins also in play for Jets free agent target Logan Ryan

While the Jets are perceived favorites for free-agent cornerback Logan Ryan, the Dolphins are emerging as potential competitors.

While there is mutual interest between the Jets and free agent cornerback Logan Ryan, the Miami Dolphins have emerged as a potential competitor, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

Rapoport went as far as saying that Ryan to the Jets “should happen,” but did not discount the Dolphins’ interest. The Jets have begun contract talks with Ryan’s representatives, but no formal offer is on the table, according to Brian Costello of the New York Post.

Miami’s interest in Ryan comes as a surprise considering the money the team has devoted to the cornerback position. However, Ryan would be able to reunite with head coach Brian Flores, who was the safeties coach when the two were in New England together.

The Dolphins signed Xavien Howard to a five-year, $76.5 million extension and inked former Cowboys cornerback Byron Jones to five-year, $82.5 million deal this offseason. In addition, the Dolphins drafted Auburn CB Noah Igbinoghene with the 30th pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. The expectation is that he will man the slot, where Ryan projects to play.

Coming off one of the better seasons of his career, Ryan recorded 113 tackles, 18 pass deflections, four interceptions. 4.5 sacks and four forced fumbles. He can provide immediate versatility, serving as a safety or slot cornerback in Gregg Williams defense, as well as bringing a winning pedigree and leadership to the locker room.

Three Miami Dolphins who are underrated entering the 2020 season

The Miami Dolphins are a team that doesn’t currently command a lot of respect in the lexicon of NFL franchises. The team has been downtrodden for too long and the name has inevitably become tied to mediocrity and pedestrian play. Coach Brian Flores is hoping to change that — and in doing so flipping the script and changing the narrative about the organization. But even within the Dolphins’ organization, there are players who play at a higher rate than their reputations might suggest.

Who are the most underrated Miami Dolphins of 2020? We came up with three:

LB Raekwon McMillan

Don’t let the Dolphins’ heavy activity at linebacker fool you — McMillan is very good at what he does. What does he do? He serves as a force against the run and a standout defender between the tackles, where his quick processor and heavy pads can shine. He’s not a player to be tested in coverage, which is a lesson former coach Adam Gase learned the hard way by refusing to sub out McMillan in passing matchups.

The end result was a negative connotation towards McMillan and his play. McMillan gave up 32 completions on 39 targets (and 6 touchdowns) in 2018 under Gase — fast forward to 2019 under Flores and McMillan was only targeted 12 times in coverage (he still gave up 10 completions but no scores).

It’s a byproduct of Flores being more deliberate with McMillan’s reps (he only played 515 snaps for Flores versus 831 for Gase). But good coaches use their players in roles that allow them to be successful. Flores did that for McMillan in 2019 and the strong play against the run was allowed to shine.

SAF Eric Rowe

Rowe came to Miami entering his third team in five years as a pro athlete. And while the former 2nd-round pick was certainly a bust for the Eagles in 2015, no one should be calling Rowe a bust anymore.

Durability was an issue and Rowe played in just 21 games over three years in New England but was able to play a full 16 game schedule for the Dolphins in 2019. By transitioning to safety, Rowe’s size and athleticism was able to shine in a role playing coverage against tight ends — and he logged his first career defensive touchdown, tied a career high with eight passes defensed and logged 81 total tackles with a 6.9% missed tackle rate.

Targeted 71 times in coverage, Rowe allowed a sub-60% completion percentage, 6.5 yards per target and a quarterback passer rating of 81.0 in throws into his area.

Miami may have an unsettled situation at free safety but, provided Rowe stays healthy, he’s the answer at the other position.

WR DeVante Parker

Parker isn’t underrated to Miami Dolphins fans, but he’s surely underrated to the rest of the league. Perhaps those who had him on their fantasy football squad can appreciate what Parker did last season, but otherwise he’s not getting the respect he deserves for his play in 2019. With 72 receptions, 1202 receiving yards and 9 receiving touchdowns in 2019, Parker somehow did not make the Pro Bowl last year.

That alone is an egregious omission and warrants a spot on this list of underrated Dolphins. Parker posted 802 yards over the team’s final eight games of 2019 — that despite a concussion early in the Dolphins’ Week 14 loss to the New York Jets that ended his day after the first quarter and just 28 yards receiving.

No wide receiver in the AFC had more receiving yards or more receiving touchdowns in 2019 than DeVante Parker. But yet he still didn’t make the Pro Bowl.

Figure that one out.

Three Miami Dolphins with the most to prove in the 2020 season

The Miami Dolphins’ 2020 season will come with some challenges in managing expectation. The Dolphins are still a very young football team — but the team is much more talented than the one that won 5 of their final 9 football games last season — and despite some tough draws in the AFC & NFC West on the schedule, the Dolphins will be playing a 4th place schedule this season.

This is the recipe we’ve often seen contribute to a big jump in wins. Could this year’s Miami squad be that team? That will be the great challenge for the coaching staff as they try to hold their team to the highest standard while also keeping perspective on where this team is in the big picture. But for the players themselves, expectations can be a little easier to navigate. A player’s role can shift and evolve throughout the season too — but typically what is “expected” of each player can be well established early on.

Which Miami Dolphins player faces the biggest task with their role in 2020?

There are a few sensible candidates worth consideration:

OL Jesse Davis

Davis enters the season as the presumed lone returning starter on the Dolphins’ offensive line. But even he won’t have it very easy in living up to that role with all of the new competition at the position. Davis, who was given an extension last season, doesn’t have a ton of money wrapped up into his future; but the team clearly saw something in him to give him a 3-year, $15M extension last fall.

He’ll have to play well at either guard or tackle in order to convince the Dolphins that they won’t need to add on further investments to the line to help keep the pocket clean for young QB Tua Tagovailoa.

CB Xavien Howard

This has less to do about quality of play and more to do about durability. The Dolphins are paying Howard some hefty coin to be a standout in their secondary, but he’s missed nearly half of the games in his NFL career thus far. Howard played in 5 games last season on the heels of missing the final 4 games of the 2018 season and now is facing a potential league suspension after a domestic incident this past winter.

Howard will need to keep his act together and keep his health in line or else run the risk of tempting Miami to move on from the rest of his 5-year, $75M contract. If things go south in 2020, the Dolphins could trade or cut Howard for a cap penalty below $7M. If he’s healthy and focused, it shouldn’t come to that. But that’s also something of a big but based on his previous durability issues.

RB Jordan Howard

Howard is a first year Miami Dolphin who has a great opportunity in front of him. If he plays well, he has the chance of convincing the Dolphins that he’s capable of being a featured back. Just 25-years old, Howard has multiple 1,000 yard seasons to his name and could prompt the Dolphins to commit to him in a more long-term role than the 2-year contract he signed on for this offseason.

What do Dolphins’ athletic trait trends in the secondary tell us?

What do Dolphins’ trends in the secondary tell us?

We are entering into year two of the Brian Flores/Chris Grier regime in South Florida and Miami’s duo atop the organization has now officially had a chance to put their stamp on the Dolphins’ roster. The team has been stripped down and subsequently built back up in a matter of 16 months, a feat that shouldn’t be underestimated. There has been impressive amounts of work done on this Dolphins’ roster — and the team is arguably in its best position in more than a decade.

One of the primary identities of the Dolphins’ team is going to be the secondary. This defense, under the watch of Brian Flores, is going to implement a ton of high volume defensive backs in their sub-packages. Sniffing out a “Brian Flores” defensive back isn’t hard — they need to be smart, tackle well and provide versatility on the back end.

But what other athletic traits should we be looking for? Consider this — the Dolphins’ secondary will a few holdovers in their nickel package this season between Bobby McCain (Free Safety) and Xavien Howard (boundary corner). Outside of that, the Dolphins’ secondary is bloated and filled with new talent brought in by the current regime.

Here is the projected Dolphins’ starting secondary (* denotes added in the last last 16 months):

CB Xavien Howard (2016 2nd-RD)
CB Byron Jones (2020 free agency)*
NB Noah Igbinoghene (2020 1st-RD)*
FS Bobby McCain (2015 5th-RD)
SS Eric Rowe (2019 free agency)*

What are the measurable common denominators between this group? The Miami Dolphins’ secondary is filled with a bunch of athletic freaks, that’s the core takeaway. Consider their three starring cornerbacks in Jones, Howard and Igbinoghene. Here are their heights & weights (size), 40 time (speed), vertical jumps & broad jumps (explosiveness) and three-cone drills & short shuttles (agility) from their respective pre-draft processes.

Byron Jones
– Height: 6-foot-1 (81st percentile)
– Weight: 199 pounds (75th percentile)
– 40-time: 4.36 seconds* (92nd percentile)
– Vertical: 44.50 inches (99th percentile)
– Broad: 12 feet, 3 inches (99th percentile)
– 3-Cone Drill: 6.78 seconds (80th percentile)
– Short Shuttle: 3.94 seconds (93rd percentile)

*Denotes test from his 2015 Pro Day

Xavien Howard
– Height: 6-foot-0 (63rd percentile)
– Weight: 201 pounds (80th percentile)
– 40-time: 4.41 seconds* (80th percentile)
– Vertical: 38.50 inches* (80th percentile)
– Broad: 10 feet, 5 inches* (74th percentile)
– 3-Cone Drill: 6.94 seconds* (50th percentile)
– Short Shuttle: Did Not Participate

*Denotes test from his 2016 Pro Day

Noah Igbinoghene
– Height: 5-foot-10 (23rd percentile)
– Weight: 198 pounds (72nd percentile)
– 40-time: 4.47 seconds* (58th percentile)
– Vertical: 40.0 inches* (84th percentile)
– Broad: 10 feet, 8 inches (86th percentile)
– 3-Cone Drill: Did Not Participate
– Short Shuttle: Did Not Participate

*Denotes test from his 2020 Pro Day

If you want to play cornerback for the Miami Dolphins, you better be physical and you better be a dense, explosive athlete. Te trend continues amid the Dolphins’ safety room, too. Consider the athletic measures of their two starting safeties in each of the same drills:

Bobby McCain (percentiles versus Free Safeties)
– Height: 5-foot-9 (1st percentile)
– Weight: 195 pounds (5th percentile)
– 40-time: 4.51 seconds (77th percentile)
– Vertical: 36.0 inches (57th percentile)
– Broad: 10 feet, 10 inches (94th percentile)
– 3-Cone Drill: 6.80 seconds (82nd percentile)
– Short Shuttle: 3.82 seconds (99th percentile)

Eric Rowe (percentiles versus Strong Safeties)
– Height: 6-foot-1 (51st percentile)
– Weight: 205 pounds (52nd percentile)
– 40-time: 4.45 seconds (86th percentile)
– Vertical: 39.0 inches (87th percentile)
– Broad: 10 feet, 5 inches (79th percentile)
– 3-Cone Drill: 6.70 seconds (89th percentile)
– Short Shuttle: 3.97 seconds (92nd percentile)

Out of 22 logged tests in 5 different categories, only four individual tests for the Dolphins’ starting secondary fell outside of the top 75th percentile of defensive backs at their respective position — a pretty incredible testament to the Dolphins’ thirst for prototypes in the secondary. Four tests failed to eclipse the 75th percentile, where as nearly twice that many (7) landed inside the 90th percentile.

The Dolphins covet non-measurables at all positions in the NFL Draft — leadership, intangibles, effort, passion and so on. But in the secondary, a potential Dolphins defender is pretty easy to spot, too. Just look for the best all-around athletes.

Panthers NFL Redraft: Do-over for the disappointing class of 2016

Here are the results of our 2016 do-over draft.

The 2016 NFL draft was. . . well it happened. The top of the draft featured some promising prospects, but overall the first round just did not produce many great players.

The Carolina Panthers certainly can attest to that given the disappointing results they got from their first-round pick, defensive tackle Vernon Butler (taken at No. 30 overall). In fact, not only is Butler not with the team anymore, neither is the rest of the draft class. James Bradberry was the last player remaining, but he will be playing for Dave Gettleman’s New York Giants this year.

So, what could have happened if the Panthers were given a mulligan for their draft following their Super Bowl appearance? Here are the results of our 2016 do-over draft.

No. 30 – Xavien Howard, CB, Baylor

The Panthers had just rescinded the franchise tag for cornerback Josh Norman and were left with Bene Benwikere as their top option at the position. By picking Howard instead of Butler, they would have gotten a defender who has become one of the top corners in the league and is now among the three highest-paid players at the position.

Original pick: Vernon Butler, DT, Louisiana Tech

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