Touchdown Wire revealed this past week their list of the top-11 interior defensive linemen in football — a list that did not happen to feature any members of the Miami Dolphins’ defense. It is understandable when considering the vast majority of the list is penetration defenders who log a lot of sacks and tackles for loss; that’s a role Miami doesn’t often call upon for their big men up front. So the stat sheet is never going to wow you with backfield production from the Dolphins’ interior.
But while the team was shutout of the list, the question begs to be asked:
Which of Miami’s interior defenders has the highest ceiling as a player? We’ll omit pass rusher Emmanuel Ogbah from this exercise despite the fact that the team has aligned him at times in a 4i or 5 technique alignment with someone walked up outside of him in alignment; making him an interior player. Ogbah spent nearly 150 snaps last season on the inside but logged nearly 850 total snaps defensively last season — so count him out here!
That leaves 2019 1st-round pick Christian Wilkins, 2020 2nd-round pick Raekwon Davis, 2019 waiver wire addition Zach Sieler and 20201 free agent signing Adam Butler as the primary contenders for the title.
Butler is an exciting addition to Miami for his ability to play as a rush specialist on the inside — he’s a notable upgrade over Davon Godchaux in the “disruptive play” department. But Butler comes to Miami from a similar system in New England; one that never once asked him to play more than 500 snaps in any of his first four seasons. Butler comes to Miami as a rotational player.
Sieler has been a tremendous gem for Miami off the trash heap in Baltimore. He’s provided quality play against both the run and the pass and the team has already rewarded him with an extension as a result. And we would be wise to not completely ignore his upside and sleeper status to claim the title of most “high ceiling” Dolphins IDL — he ran 4.83s in the 40-yard dash at his 2018 pro day coming out of Ferris State at 288 pounds with a vertical of 29 inches and a standing broad jump of 9-feet, 10-inches. He’s a plus athlete who is now getting NFL coaching and fundamentals down after coming out of a small school program.
If anything Sieler has closed the gap on Wilkins and Davis, who had a head start by playing college ball at Clemson and Alabama respectively. Wilkins has comparable athletic tests (5.03s 40, 29.5″ vertical) but logged his tests at 315 pounds, nearly 30 pounds heavier than Sieler did in the draft process. And while Wilkins hasn’t finished his pressures and converted them into sacks, he’s gotten plenty of push inside and is a reliable piece of the puzzle up front in all phases for Miami.
But Raekwon Davis has the highest ceiling of this group. Because while Wilkins is good across the board and Sieler is blossoming in a bigger role with the Dolphins, Davis was dominant for large stretches of play in the back half of his rookie season. Miami bulked Davis up to 330 pounds to play nose tackle and he’s got monstrous potential there. He actually had a better pressure rate (5.51%) than Wilkins (4.96%) did in his opportunities there, too. And entering into Year 2, Miami must be thrilled about his potential to bully opposing centers once again in 2021.
It’d be fair to assess Sieler is the best athlete of the group and Wilkins is the most versatile of the group. But the one who has the highest potential of being dominant in their respective role? That title looks, at least for now, to belong to Davis.