Countdown To Camp: Dolphins' Defense Struggled With Suh, So Does It Really Matter Who Replaces Him?

J. David Wannyheimer said:

I don't like the line of reasoning that because the defense was bad with him here, they won't lose anything from his departure.

They're absolutely going to miss him.

Click to expand...

He's still a top 3 DT and that is 100% hard to replace. However my point has been given the amount of cash tied up having him and what Miami wanted to do on Defense the return on that investment isn't sound. Suh has never been on an "elite" D and if the Rams can't be that this year with him it isn't ever going to happen.

Suh Defenses:

2010 : 21st overall 24th rushing
2011: 23rd overall 23rd rushing
2012: 13th overall 16th rushing
2013: 16th overall 6th rushing
2014: 2nd overall 1st rushing
2015: 25th overall 28th rushing
2016: 29th overall 30th rushing
2017: 16th overall 14th rushing

His best years were 2013 and 2014 as a team and his 2010 (rookie year) and 2015 (1st year in Miami) were also good individually. The 2014 D was great but not quite "elite" and the 2013 D was very good also. Other than that a whole lot of nadda.

I think it's clear (and many people said this when we signed him) that DT is not a position where one player will transform or carry a defense.

The NFL is an a) passing league and b) relying more and more on quick reads/misdirections.

Having a massive force at the center of your Dline is going to be irrelevant on a good number of the plays called.

Obviously we are not a better team without Suh just for the sake of losing him. But I think we can be a better team defense by adding better players elsewhere, and not feel such a burn from Suh's departure.

mwestberry said:

I don't get it...

What I read here (mostly) is that the loss of Suh will be missed ….a bunch...double teams, stud etc....but we are the only team in the NFL that had Suh and our defense wasn't ranked very high and frankly wasn't that good....

31 other teams didn't have the MIGHTY Suh and yet 12 of those teams qualified for the playoffs...and 2 of those teams went to the Super Bowl….point is one man isn't better than one team

I think our defense was ranked 29th overall and 17th vs run....With Suh....how is he such a difference maker???...WE NEED SACKS AND TURNOVERS.....

We have upgraded at LB, DB and DL...we have also improved depth (talent)….

It's difficult for me to see that we are going to be worse on defense with a second year of Burkes scheme and the upgrade of talent and depth

Blast away and inform me because I am not seeing a huge drop off (if any) in our ranking from last year...I believe we survive without Suh and improve significantly from the 29th overall ranking

Click to expand...

I think it's the same concept as just because you have a great QB thats not enough since it's a team game and 1 single elite player on defense is not enough to transform a D that has too many mediocre players. You can have an elite CB but it makes no difference if everyone else on D sucks because the offense will just throw else where..

Think about Cortz Kennedy who won DPOY in 1992 and the defense ranked 17th and 20th against the run and only won 2 games. Maybe ultimately Burke sucked and didn't utilize Suh to the best of his abilities. A good defensive coordinator goes a long way.

J. David Wannyheimer said:

I don't like the line of reasoning that because the defense was bad with him here, they won't lose anything from his departure.

They're absolutely going to miss him.

Click to expand...

That's because it makes about as much sense as Suh being able to bring the talent around him up.

Unless one of the underwhelming group of DTs were bit by a radioactive spider or struck by lightning during the off season, he is absolutely going to be missed. And it should be obvious game 1.

Phinatic8u said:

Just because you hurt your knee doesn’t make it a bad knee.

Click to expand...

Yea the same thing was probaly posted about RT last year about this time and lets remember how that worked out.
Sure he might come back just fine. Maybe not , injuries are both mental and physical. Players make adjustments to protect their wounded limb. Our all pro safty Jones didn't tackle the same last year after his shoulder injury. Many of these posts are treating Raykon like he is a return ing all pro which he is not, couple that with no NFL experience and a injury concern thats asking a lot out of the guy. We have depth that we didn't have last year at this time and that where we are at.

It wouldn't surprise me one bit to see Raekwon have a bigger impact on our overall D than Suh ever did. We'll soon see!

BobDole said:

That's because it makes about as much sense as Suh being able to bring the talent around him up.

Unless one of the underwhelming group of DTs were bit by a radioactive spider or struck by lightning during the off season, he is absolutely going to be missed. And it should be obvious game 1.

Click to expand...

First, I think the bad run D was as much about bad LBs as it was about Suh's free-lancing. That said, Suh's absence may turn a bad run D into an AWFUL run D. No one knows yet. Personally, I think D stats as a team, will be better than the '17 D with Suh. But, so far, all we have is opinions.

GUH-sick-EE said:

It wouldn't surprise me one bit to see Raekwon have a bigger impact on our overall D than Suh ever did. We'll soon see!

Click to expand...

fansinceGWilson said:

First, I think the bad run D was as much about bad LBs as it was about Suh's free-lancing. That said, Suh's absence may turn a bad run D into an AWFUL run D. No one knows yet. Personally, I think D stats as a team, will be better than the '17 D with Suh. But, so far, all we have is opinions.

Click to expand...

There are so many other factors that play into it that it's hard to isolate exactly why the run D will better or worse ... injuries will ruin plans in a hurry ... but there are reasons to think the arrow could be pointing up.

Burke growing into the job is a big one. He was a rook coordinator so there were naturally going to be growing pains. That coinciding with the season from hell didn't help but already having gone through the fire will. As of right now, he's got better depth to work with but that can change in a hurry. Plus another year for everyone to develop familiarity with the scheme.

Solid depth even if the talent isn't overwhelming.

The LB situation will be vastly improved. I can't remember a more mediocre fins group ... ever. No where to go but up and Kwon and Baker will help that.

Secondary is looking like a complete group instead of a never ending work in progress. I predict this to be the best unit on the team ... which isn't a bad thing in today's NFL.



But all that stuff doesn't mean Suh wouldn't have positively contributed in a big way. Mainly just rationalizations after the culmination of stupid finally came to a head.

Suh would've helped the 2018 Dolphins ... but he'll help the Rams even more. Watch the **** out for that group.

superphin said:

Click to expand...

I don't think it's "hype" to imagine a strong, speedy presence on a weak LB core, one who is a vocal leader who's known for getting guys into place, and who the coaches seem very high on, could have more of an effect than a guy who's constantly double teamed, is known to freelance, and who requires the same pay as two quality defenders.

GUH-sick-EE said:

I don't think it's "hype" to imagine a strong, speedy presence on a weak LB core, one who is a vocal leader who's known for getting guys into place, and who the coaches seem very high on, could have more of an effect than a guy who's constantly double teamed, is known to freelance, and who requires the same pay as two quality defenders.

Click to expand...

I think its hard to imagine a pretty much rookie LB having a greater impact on the defense overall than a HOF caliber DT who was in his prime. Could the defense eventually be better in the next couple years? Probably but by that point we would have so many different starters and emerging players like Fitzpatrick it would be hard to point at McMillan and say he's the sole reason.

Suh wasn't the problem with our defense. Suh should still be on the team if not for the asinine contract and restructure perpetrated by T-Dumb.

Suh's dead cap:
2018: $9.1 M
2019: $13.1 M

That's top 10-12 DT salary wasted on nothing. Good job management.

I hope our interior DT's up their game otherwise it's another shitshow fill a hole, dig a hole mentality that this front office loves so much.