Miami Dolphins: Can Defense Still Succeed Without Jalen Ramsay?

The Miami Dolphins took a big hit when they lost Jalen Ramsey to injury. Paired with Xavien Howard, the duo had fans excited to return to a powerhouse in Vic Fangio’s defense. Now that the Dolphins have lost one of their Pro Bowl DBs can they still dominate?

The short answer? Yes. Once Ramsey went down it was up to the Dolphins to find a suitable replacement. They wasted little time with another household name Eli Apple. With no disrespect to Apple, he’s no Jalen Ramsay and he doesn’t have to be. He needs to do his job and cover WRs. If you look at their stats, Jalen Ramsey had a firm lead in most categories with the biggest hit being in turnovers. Apple had 0 INTs, 0 forced fumbles, 0 recoveries, and half as many tackles. That alone could have fans in a panic.

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But they shouldn’t. Eli Apple might not have been the Miami Dolphins’ first choice after the offseason, but he’s not a bad CB. His growth over the past few seasons helped contribute to the Bengals’ Super Bowl run. The Dolphins will be a great fit with Fangio at the helm. Players are already commenting on his defense allowing players’ individual skill sets to shine. He’ll be paired with Xavien Howard just as Ramsey would’ve and will join a talented group of CBs who will compete for depth and hopefully make each other better.

Miami also will have a powerful offense to balance out their defense. When your offense can get its job done, the defense has less pressure. When you have a talent pool as deep as the Dolphins do, everyone eats. Fans can hang their heads all they want after losing a star player like Jalen Ramsey, but Eli Apple will be a major contributor in his absence. The Dolphins will be just fine if Eli slides into that starter role especially getting players such as Brandon Jones back healthy in their secondary. Miami can still be scary good on defense with Ramsey down and Apple filling in.