Cornerback should top Adam Gase’s Christmas list for 2017
By Tyler Olson
We all knew the cornerback spot wasn’t the best in Miami this year. Little did we all know exactly how inconsistent it’d be.
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The weakest position on the 2016 Miami Dolphins team is clearly the cornerback position. We can all point fingers at the offense – rightfully so – as their inability to move the ball through four games this season has been ugly.
I, however, won’t chalk the 1-3 start to the season solely on the offense. Ryan Tannehill has been, well, bad but he has the “quarterback whisperer” calling the shots on the sideline. Things will pick up once Mike Pouncey returns to the center of the line.
Running backs will have more room to roam once head coach Adam Gase learns how to best call a game that’s suited for his quarterback. The offense’s inability to score early in the game puts the defense in a bind and forces his hand to make Tannehill throw more often.
The pieces are there on the offensive side of the ball for a team to be successful. The ability to successfully execute a gameplan for 60 minutes is the root of the issue.
The story is different on the defensive side of the ball. Gase made a move in the offseason to bring linebacker Kiko Alonso and cornerback Byron Maxwell to South Florida. A bold move as we all know with Alonso’s injury history and Maxwell’s inconsistency in Philadelphia.
It looks as if Miami won part of that trade. Defensive coordinator Vance Joseph found his inside linebacker in Alonso. Maxwell, however, is the obvious loss.
Just after three games into the season Maxwell has proven his four seasons in Seattle was a fluke. That or he was just a part of a defense that helped him succeed. Regardless, Maxwell has found a home on the bench in favor of an inexperienced Tony Lippett.
Last Thursday night Miami did a great job stuffing Bengal running backs Jeremy Hill and Giovani Bernard. The issue was at cornerback as Andy Dalton and AJ Green exploited Lippett and the rest of the secondary all night.
Thursday night wasn’t the only dismal performance by Miami’s cornerbacks this season. Bobby McCain gave up the winning touchdown to Doug Baldwin in week one and Jimmy Garoppolo exploited them in the first half in week two. Then the duo of Cody Kessler and Terrelle Pryor blasted them in week three.
Again, us as fans can blame the offense for the lack of production from the defense. Through four games opposing teams are beating Miami in time-of-possession 146 to 99. And it’s been progressively worse each week.
A lot is being asked from the cornerbacks and the rest of the defense. But there’s no excuse. With only one interception and three fumble recoveries, Joseph’s crew’s not getting the job done.
Gase needs to look for that playmaker to come in and be a Richard Sherman or a Darrelle Revis in Miami’s secondary. Lucky for him he has plenty of option in the upcoming 2017 NFL Draft.
Jalen Tabor of Florida, Marlon Humphrey of Alabama, and Desmond King of Iowa are all realistic 1st-round talents. Humphrey may be the best out of the bunch but it’s hard to trust Alabama cornerbacks in the NFL.
If the season continues to roll like it has this season, Gase will be in line for a top-10 selection next April. What he chooses to do with that selection will set up not only the 2017 season but his future as the head coach in Miami.