Dolphins Matt Burke has a lot of new toys for his defense
By Brian Miller
Cornerbacks
2017 – Cordrea Tankersley, Xavien Howard, Bobby McCain, Byron Maxwell, Torry McTyer
2018 – Tankersley, Howard, McCain, Tony Lippett, Cornell Armstrong, Torry McTyer
Safeties – T.J. McDonald, Reshad Jones, Michael Thomas, Nate Allen, Walt Aikens
2018 – McDonald, Jones, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Walt Aikens
In 2017 the Dolphins released Byron Maxwell in part due to attitude and in part due to poor play. Miami lost Tankersley for part of the season and watched Howard develop into a top cornerback. Miami lost versatile nickel corner Tony Lippett for the season in training camp.
If they can stay healthy Miami has a formidable corner unit with Tankersley and Howard hopefully taking another step forward and McCain, McTyer, and Lippett providing quality depth and rotation in situational fits.
Overall not much really changed from the end of last season outside of players getting healthy but this unit should be good in 2018.
At safety one major change comes in the form of first round draft pick Minkah Fitzpatrick. A versatile safety who can play both safety positions, Fitzpatrick can drop down to linebacker and play tight-end coverage. He is a hard hitter with good football instincts.
Matt Burke will now have a few more options with moving Fitzpatrick and T.J. McDonald around to disguise coverages and blitz packages.
The only real loss is Michael Thomas who left in free agency.
Overall this unit should be much better than 2017 but some of that hinges on McDonald who did not perform to team expectations last year. He will need to step it up in 2018.