Cornerback
Jaylen Ramsey, Kendall Fuller, Kader Kohou, Nik Needham, Cam Smith,Ethan Bonner, Siran Neal
Key changes from 2023:
Key Losses: Xavien Howard ($25.9 million cap hit if kept, cut post June 1, $18.5 million cap savings, unsigned)
Additions: Kendall Fuller (2 years, $16.5 million), Siran Neal($?)
Xavien Howard was playing ok last year until he injured his foot vs the Titans. From then on he wasn’t able to play to expectations and ultimately, he ended up missing the last 3 or 4 games. X has been fairly injury prone in his career and has had lingering groin injuries for multiple years, counting on a full 17 game season from him is unlikely at this point in his career, and his full cap hit had we kept him this year would’ve been something like $24 million. Cutting him saved $18 million on the cap Post June 1st.
Kendall Fuller was signed for 2 years, $16.5 million. He’s 29 years old, and was the 3rd highest rated cornerback on this years free agent market after Caylon Johnson and L’jarius Sneed, both of whom would cost a lot more than what we got Kendall Fuller for. For what it’s worth PFF ranked him as the 4th best cornerback after all of the 2023 season. According to next gen stats: Kendall Fuller did not allow a reception on 7 targets, tied for the 3rd most targets without a reception in a game in the Next Gen Stats era (since 2016). Fuller forced a tight window on 5 of 7 targets (ranked 4th in the league) and recorded a career-best -12.4 target EPA.
Assessment? The Miami dolphins have upgraded their cornerback room from 2023 by replacing Xavien Howard with Kendall Fuller at 1/3 of what Howard’s cap hit would’ve been for this season. They have some nice depth and competition with Kohou & Needham who was injured going into 2023, and they have some young developmental pieces in Cam Smith & Ethan Bonner (speed demon) who can compete and develop. Siran Neal will provide some depth at the nickel, and will likely see significant playing time on special teams.
Safety
Jevon Holland, Jordan Poyer, Elijah Campbell
Key Losses: Deshaun Elliot (Steelers, 2 yrs, $6 million), Brandon Jones(Broncos, 3 years, $20 million)
Additions: Jordan Poyer (1 year, $2million)
Jordan Poyer is a Savy veteran who can give us some good snaps. Had some injuries, and some Bills fans say he’s lost a step. Seemed to play reasonably well at the end of last season, but it’s unlikely he is still the player he was at the height of his powers. It’s possible he still needs to recover from his injury in 2022, (torn Meniscus vs the Dolphins week 15 ironically) and that’s why he might not have quite been himself in 2023? That’s the question. In any case, he can still provide some good snaps for us.
Assessment: I think the signings of Deshaun Elliot and Brandon Jones told you what the Steelers and Broncos thought of the two safties we lost. Poyer was a solid signing, but he may have lost a step? We shall see. They still need to sign another safety, preferably another free agent. More work to do, incomplete at this point of the off season.
Edge
Jaelen Phillips, Bradley Chubb, Shaq Barret, Cameron Goode, Zeke Vandenberg, Quinton Bell
Key Losses: Andrew Van Ginkel (Minnesota Vikings, 2 years $20 million, $16 million guaranteed)
Additions: Shaq Barret (1 year, $9 million)
Shaq Barret had 4.5 sacks last year compared to AVG’s 6.5. He’s been a really good player in this league for a long time (19.5 sacks in 2019 while playing for the Bucs) he’s 31 years old now and still a very good player. Tore his Achilles in Oct of 2022, played 16 games for Tampa Bay last year and generally has been a pretty durable player in his career.
Assessment: For the price, we should’ve kept Van Ginkel IMHO who is younger and probably a better player at this point in his career and who also has more upside. However, Shaquille Barret is very good player and there shouldn’t be very much drop off from Avg. Of course the elephant in the room is when will JP and Chubb return from their late season injuries from last year, and will they be at the top of their games this season when they do return? Their snap counts will likely have to be managed, although JP has a goal of returning for the start of the season. An Achilles is a tough injury to recover from, but he is young so he has that counting for him. It’s possible we may draft an edge player like Latu in the first round, but I personally hope we don’t just because the strength of this draft also lines up nicely with a greater need at offensive line, and then I think another WR would be really interesting at 21 with a guard or tackle with our second round pick if we don’t draft a tackle to swing inside. Or an OTackle, Dtackle with 1 and 2 would also be a pretty good use of resources as always depending upon who is picked. Bottom line, when JP & Chubb return from their injuries, assuming they return in good form, at that time we’ll have a pretty solid pass rushing rotation, but it’s likely that early in the season we won’t have as strong of a pass rush while JP and Chubb are getting healthy.
Inside Linebacker
David Long Jr, Jordon Brooks, Anthony Walker Jr., Duke Riley, Channing Tindall
Key Losses: Jerome Baker ($10.8 million cost, $9.8 million Cap savings, Browns 2 years $?)
Additions: Jordon Brooks(3 years, $26 million), Anthony Walker Jr. (1 year deal, probably veteran minimum)
Jordon Brooks is 26 years old, and is an upgrade over Jerome Baker because of his coverage ability. He a long armed rangey player capable of covering receivers at depth down the field and is also capable of playing as a 3rd safety on the field even though he’s a linebacker. I love this signing.
Anthony Walker Jr is a solid player when healthy. Basically a cheap option to see if he can to provide some quality depth.
Assessment: Our inside line backing corps has been upgraded with the replacement of Jerome Baker with a younger, more verasatile player in Jordon Brooks. Think of him as a poor mans Fred Warner. David Long played really well last year and managed to stay healthy which is really the only reason the Titans released him last year was because he was excellent when on the field, but couldn’t stay healthy when he was with them. Anthony Walker will give some good snaps in a rotation and or relief of Brooks or Long. Channing Tindall may not be on the roster and make the 53 this year if he doesn’t have a break out camp, and Duke Riley is a good special teams player. I could see us adding some more players for some more competition, but even if we don’t we are pretty set here and better than we were last year.
Defensive Line DT/DE
Zack Sieler, Dashawn Hand , Brandon Pili, Benito Jones, Jonathan Harris, Neville Gallimore, Isaiah Mack, Daviyon Nixon
Key Losses: Christian Wilkins (Las Vegas Raiders, 4 years, $110 million, $84.75 million guaranteed), Raekwon Davis (Colts, 2 years $14 million, $7 million guaranteed)
Additions: Benito Jones($?, 26 yrs, 6’1, 335 ), Jonathan Harris ($?, 27 yrs, 6’5, 295), Neville Gallimore($1.79 million, fully guaranteed, age 27, 6’2, 302), Isaiah Mack(1 year, $1.125million, 27 yrs old, 6’1 299), Daviyon Nixon(1 year $925k,25, 6’3, 305)
Benito Jones will replace Raekwon Davis at nose tackle. Not his first time with the Dolphins, played in Detroit last couple of years on a good defense, started 15 out of 34 games during that two year period. Contributing part of a good run stuffing unit. Still hasn’t hit his ceiling is an assessment from some Lions fans, depth they have and one player coming off of a quad that made him a bit expendable. Word is he improved a lot last season which was his second for the Lions. Currently Brandon Pili would be his backup, But I wouldn’t be surprised if we drafted a player or signed an undrafted player or street free agent for more competition and depth. We didn’t lose anything here, and may have even improved a bit in terms of him replacing Raekwon Davis. There’s a chance he takes another step this year.
Jonathan Harris is a young player that will provide depth in the rotation and have a chance to compete for the staring spot opposite Zack Sieler. He was part of the broncos rotation last year and played in all 17 games. No stats that wow you, but he’s a nice young player that can compete and provide depth. He won’t be expensive.
Neville Gallimore Is a player with upside who has flashed at times, but played inconsistently at Dallas. He has potetntial, but he hasn’t lived up to it yet. If anyone can help him reach his potential, our DLINE coach Austin Clark will be able to. He will provide depth in the rotation and also have a chance to compete for the spot opposite Zach Sieler.
Isaiah Mack Played for Weaver previously at the Ravens before he was at the Titans last year. He will have a chance to compete for a roster spot and the open position that Wilkins has left behind.
Daviyon Nixon Is a depth player who played for the Panthers last year and will have a chance to compete for a roster spot to make the 53, but it’s not guaranteed.
Assessment: Replacing Davis with Benito Jones should pretty much be a wash. It seems to me that Wilkins position is wide open at this moment, and the leading candidates to fill it is Da’shawn Hand who will compete with Harris, Gallimore, Mack, & Nixon with some having a better chance to take it than others. Last year, Sieler & Wilkins took like 95% of the snaps, so there wasn’t really much of a rotation to speak of. If Weaver installs the Ravens defense as our base, then I imagine we would have a rotation of 4 players at the two end spots (in 3/4 alignment), so we would be replacing him with 2 players. There is more work to be done here, in that I could see an investment of a draft pick, and even another free agent depending upon how things shake out. While it’s not catastrophic, it’s hard to see how this position group has gotten better, but there is still time to make more improvements and I hope they arent done yet. Having said that, it still has an opportunity to be stout against the run, and the rotation is something that could be of benefit as it keeps players fresh and helps from an energy standpoint.
Forecast comparison of this defense from last year:
Pass Coverage: Improved from last year with the additions of Fuller who is an upgrade over X & Jordon Brooks who can cover well from the linebacking position.
Pass rush: Worsened. Currently, worst than last year on paper. Shaq Barret helps numb the sting of the loss of Van Ginkel, but Chubb & Phillips are still injured and it is unknown when they will be able to return to the lineup in full health. We could still probably use one more edge player because of the uncertainty of Chubbs & Phillips, and Wilkins did have 9 Sacks last year that someone else is going to have to pick up some part of. It is possible with improved coverage there will be more time for our pass rush to get there, but you still need guys who can be disruptive and beat the man in front of them.
Run Defense: Should be improved with the additions of Brooks, Walker, & Benito Jones
Long story short, despite the losses of X, Brandon Jones, Jerome Baker, Raekwon Davis, Andrew Van Ginkel, & Christian Wilkins, this defense still has the potential to be a solid unit in 2024. With the exception of Wilkins, an argument can be made that all the others were either replaced (as in it’s a wash between the new player and the one who left), or in more than one case, they were even potentially upgraded. The off season isn’t over yet, so there is still an opportunity to improve at edge and Dtackle. The biggest risk to the Defense returning to a top 10 unit this year has not as much to do with the players Chris Grier let walk out the door or cut as most of them have been replaced, and some even upgraded, but everything to do with when Phillips and Chubb can return to full health.
