Isa Abdul-Quddus is the key to a resurgent Dolphins defense | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Isa Abdul-Quddus is the key to a resurgent Dolphins defense

DKphin

DKphin

Active Roster
Joined
Aug 10, 2008
Messages
14,535
Reaction score
6,353
Location
Pattaya, Thailand
usa-today-9444555.0.jpg

There aren't many players who can hit, tackle and cover the way Abdul-Quddus does.

I don't think any professional sports league exemplifies the slogan "life comes at you fast" any better than the NFL. Take for example, strong safety James Ihedigbo.
A year ago, his seventh season in the league, he was coming of a season where he played well enough for the Detroit Lions to be named a Pro Bowl alternate. Because he felt that his contract no longer reflected his level of play, Ihedigbo decided to stay away from offseason workouts to try to force Detroit to up his pay in the final year of a two-year deal.
The Lions did not acquiesce to his demands, even with Detroit suffering through a miserable 7-9 season where it started off 1-7, and Ihedigbo found himself passed up on the depth chart in the second half of the season by fifth-year guy Isa Abdul-Quddus. This offseason, it ended up being Abdul-Quddus who got paid, signing a three-year deal for over $12 million dollars with the Miami Dolphins.
Okay, so it wasn't exactly a blockbuster deal, but still.
While Ihedigbo's fortunes quickly changed for the worse in the course of one season, I think Abdul-Quddus' career is headed in the exact opposite direction in Miami.
After coming into the NFL as an undrafted free agent with the New Orleans Saints, Abdul-Quddus worked his way into playing time with New Orleans and had a pretty decent second year there, starting three games and notching 45 tackles to go along with seven passes defensed and the only two interceptions of his career. The kid has always had some ability, but he just hadn't gotten many opportunities to be a full-time starter until last season.
With Ihedigbo slowed by injury and not playing all that well when he was healthy, Abdul-Quddus stepped in to start eight games in 2015. Interestingly enough, the Lions did not win a game that he did not start last season. I'm just sayin' ...
What I liked the most about Abdul-Quddus when I watched his film is that while he isn't the biggest safety you will ever see at 6'1, 201 pounds, that dude will lay the wood on you! Didn't matter how big or small the guy he was trying to tackle -- if they had the ball in their hand he was going to try to lower the boom on them.
Click to expand...
http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2016/8/...phins-isa-abdul-quddos-safety-breakout-season
 
"Interestingly enough, the Lions did not win a game that he did not start last season."

Very interesting, to say the least.
 
He needs to make sure he has less of the missed tackles like he did against the Giants.
 
RobertHorry said:
He needs to make sure he has less of the missed tackles like he did against the Giants.
Click to expand...

Tackling was much better in game three. I'm willing to forgive bad tackling in PS games 1-2 because it seems to be a thing that happens every season.
 
DKphin said:
They did not say that they won every game that he started. They said that the Lions with James Ihedigbo did not win a game until IAQ took over.
Click to expand...

Seems like a stretch though to attribute it to a safety. It could be 1 reason they won games but definitely not the only reason
 
xXwarXx said:
Why did they let him go?
Click to expand...
I am not exactly sure why, but here is what some of the fans said when he was let go:



Steve Grant ‏@stevegrant515 Mar 9

@PrideOfDetroit How could we let Isa go ??
0 retweets 0 likes

Rudy ‏@Ruedoggy Mar 9

@PrideOfDetroit I'm bummed. He was killing it second half.
0 retweets 0 likes
Kellen Dangler ‏@Dangles_jangles Mar 9

@PrideOfDetroit so are the Lions going to sign a safety now?
0 retweets 0 likes
Caze ‏@sosuhme_rNFL Mar 9

@PrideOfDetroit Worked out for them last time they picked up a Lions DB.

---------- Post added at 04:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:16 PM ----------

After reading this, i am guessing the Phins offered a better deal than the Lions:

After mostly working as a special teamer and backup defender during the first four-plus years of his career, Abdul-Quddus dethroned Ihedigbo as Detroit’s starting strong safety in November and made the most of his increased playing time. Given his range, the 26-year-old was a better fit than Ihedigbo in coordinator Teryl Austin‘s defense, and PFF agrees: The site ranked Abdul-Quddus 21st and Ihedigbo 64th, respectively, out of 88 qualifying safeties. Abdul-Quddus hopes to parlay his career-best defensive season into another deal with the Lions.

“I love it here,” the 26-year-old told Kyle Meinke of MLive.com. “I love the coaching staff. I love Coach Caldwell. I love everything here man, and I’d love to come back.”

Regardless of whether it’s with the Lions or another team, Abdul-Quddus will surely end up with a more lucrative contract than the one-year, $1.5MM accord he signed in 2015. While Abdul-Quddus’ stock is rising, Ihedigbo’s is falling thanks to both his age (32) and his play last season. Not surprisingly, the Lions won’t re-sign him, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter).
Click to expand...
http://www.profootballrumors.com/2016/02/nfl-offseason-outlook-detroit-lions-2016
 
I think IAQ will be the best safety we have paired with Jones (is that really saying much?). With Jones in his prime, they should make an excellent duo. Whether that will be enough to cover up the deficiencies at CB I don't know.
 
cafinfan408 said:
I think Delmas when healthy gave us a great pair of S
Click to expand...
He was good back there with him, just couldn't stay healthy unfortunately. Other than Delmas, I'm pretty sure Reshad was glad to see someone playing opposite of him not named Aikens, Clemons, or Wilson.
 
DKphin said:
I am not exactly sure why, but here is what some of the fans said when he was let go:



Steve Grant ‏@stevegrant515 Mar 9

@PrideOfDetroit How could we let Isa go ??
0 retweets 0 likes

Rudy ‏@Ruedoggy Mar 9

@PrideOfDetroit I'm bummed. He was killing it second half.
0 retweets 0 likes
Kellen Dangler ‏@Dangles_jangles Mar 9

@PrideOfDetroit so are the Lions going to sign a safety now?
0 retweets 0 likes
Caze ‏@sosuhme_rNFL Mar 9

@PrideOfDetroit Worked out for them last time they picked up a Lions DB.

---------- Post added at 04:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:16 PM ----------

After reading this, i am guessing the Phins offered a better deal than the Lions:

http://www.profootballrumors.com/2016/02/nfl-offseason-outlook-detroit-lions-2016
Click to expand...

When we lost delmas you could see tue difference in coyles defense instantly. I'm probably one of the few that thought coyle was good, but once he lost the vet DBS the youngings couldn't handle the system, and he never developed the young guys which is what thenpast staff banked on hard, for some reason.

I'm skeptical of Abdul, we got him cheap, lions didn't even give a fight. Seems odd...

Hopfully he works out, because our corners are going to really need quality backup, even in the best case scenario.
 
nick1 said:
Seems like a stretch though to attribute it to a safety. It could be 1 reason they won games but definitely not the only reason
Click to expand...

Not that I think this guy had that effect, but I think we were like 1-6 in 2006 and then we made Yeremiah Bell a starter finally and he was a tremendous part of us winning 4 straight after that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom