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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