Noah Igbinoghene, CB, Miami Dolphins
One of the best parts of the NFL Draft process is when teams provide a crystal-clear vision of how they want to operate schematically. Think, for example, of the Kansas City Chiefs trading up for Patrick Mahomes in 2017. They knew that while Alex Smith was a safe quarterback who rarely made mistakes, for their offense to truly click they needed a quarterback who was willing to take chances at times.
What Brian Flores is building in South Beach is his own version of what he and Bill Belichick assembled in New England: A secondary with talent and flexibility at the cornerback position. Belichick, as Flores well knows, loves to play matchups with his cornerbacks against the offense’s wide receivers. Sometimes it might be a simple as taking his best coverage corner and putting it on the offense’s second-best receiver. Then, Belichick takes his number two CB and puts him on the offense’s best receiver, with dedicated help from a safety. That takes both players out of the game plan.
Other times, Belichick will play matchups based on skill-set. A long vertical receiver might see a cornerback with similar length and long speed. A shifty slot type of receiver might draw their best coverage player. Even a dangerous tight end option like Zach Ertz might get special attention in the form of Stephon Gilmore.
So sure, the Dolphins added Byron Jones to the secondary in free agency, making him and Xavien Howard the highest paid cornerback tandem in the league. But they were not done there, and they added Noah Igbinoghene, the athletic Auburn corner, at the end of the first round. In Igbinoghene, they now have another long and athletic cornerback who can play both inside and outside, and with those three options, Flores can dream up any matchup combination he can think of on Sundays.
The last missing piece perhaps? A rangy, true free safety so that Miami can play a ton of Cover 1 in the secondary. If they add Ashtyn Davis to this mix – as Touchdown Wire predicted in our Day Two mock draft – watch out.