Miami Dolphins: It Needs to Start with Defense

If you had your hopes on the Miami Dolphins going all in on a quarterback in this year’s NFL Draft, you might be let down. Despite the rumors that the team is done with current QB Ryan Tannehill or that they’ll focus their offseason Nick Foles don’t look for the Dolphins to go all in on QB right away.

It all starts with new head coach Brian Flores, a defensive play caller brought over from the New England Patriots. Flores has been with the Patriots the majority of his career. Seeing the success of Tom Brady might sway his decision on how developing a young quarterback can change a franchise’s fortunes. However, with the Dolphins, believe it or not, more work needs to be done on the defensive side of the football.

Miami might have a handful of young talent primed to break out and make a splash in this year’s NFL but they’ve barely scratched the surface of their playing careers. With young talent like Raekwon McMillian and Jerome Baker at linebacker and Xavien Howard, Cordrea Tankersley, Reshad Jones, and Minkah Fitzpatrick behind them there shouldn’t be much building left. Depth and consistency should be the key to their success.

The biggest hurdle, however, will be their pass rushers. Nothing about the Miami Dolphins’ defensive front scared teams off last season. On top of the underperforming play, the Dolphins will more than likely switch from a 4-3 defense over to a 3-4 the Patriots had success with. Sure, it might work better for their speedy edge rushers, but the Dolphins need to find someone to fill gaps in the middle of their defense. Having 4 LBs drop back into coverage against TEs like Rob Gronkowski sounds great, but Miami already struggled against the run. If they want to switch, they’ll need to find a big strong nose tackle like Vince Wilfork as well as transition their young linebackers.

With a solid defense in position, the Dolphins can work on developing a young quarterback. Plenty of teams this past season had struggling offenses but still made the playoffs on the strength of their defenses. Look for Flores go this route this offseason. Even if Miami looks to the QB position this offseason don’t expect much in splashy free agents or first round picks. More than likely the Dolphins could get a game manager like Ryan Finley of NC State in the second or even third round.

With the run on quarterbacks last year, there won’t be a feeding frenzy this year especially when next year’s draft has a few gems. If the Dolphins are smart, they can snag Finley this offseason and get a project quarterback to move forward with. A strong defensive movement this offseason will allow the Dolphins to keep games close and have a veteran signal caller to hold the spot. Best case scenario Finley ends up overplaying his talent and can move into the starting role. Worst case scenario, the Dolphins are as bad as projected and pick up a quarterback next draft, which should be their play. If they snag Finley this draft and expect him to be their backup, then their franchise QB next season, the days of overpaying backups like Matt Moore and Brock Osweiler are gone. Miami will have two quarterbacks on rookie deals and free up cap space to develop elsewhere.

There’s no real need for the Dolphins to tank. They have the talent to compete in today’s NFL. No one in the AFC East, outside of the Patriots, is too dominating. They even had an outside chance at the playoffs this season. With the right pieces in place, Miami just needs to find place fillers in free agency and draft game changers they can develop. Rather than blow up the entire team and start from scratch, the smart play would build the defense up front while you give your new quarterback time to learn and grow. Focusing on the offense would be Flores’ nail in the coffin this early in his young career.

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