Miami Dolphins 19 best players of the 2018 season
By Nick Belotto
14 Davon Godchaux
When Ndamukong Suh left in the offseason, I felt pretty confident that a combination of Godchaux and Taylor could help fill in the void of talent. It didn’t go entirely according to plan, but Godchaux played well throughout the season. Godchaux finished the year with 48 tackles and a sack, which don’t necessarily jump off the page. He had 6 tackles for a loss, which needs to improve. Yet Godchaux’s youth and early plays leads me to believe that there is nowhere but up for this young, 5th round pick.
13 Robert Quinn
Quinn’s season was a tad bit disappointing this season, as all expectations had him performing well considering his shift back to his natural position and playing alongside Cameron Wake. Quinn had a few games where he played well, consistently putting pressure on the opposing quarterback and there were some games where he was completely non-existent.
Quinn still finished with a somewhat decent stat line, ending with 6.5 sacks, 38 tackles and 2 forced fumbles. His random disappearance during games is concerning, but he put together a decent showing on a team that struggled defensively at times.
12 Raekwon McMillan
McMillan’s season was the epitome of “up and down.” At the beginning of the season, McMillan looked slow, out of position and, frankly, a bit lost. That being said, he started to pick up the pace as the season went on and he began to adjust to the speed of the game.
McMillan finished the year with 105 tackles, something completely expected when you look at his skill set. He still needs to work on pass protection and his positioning considering his speed, or sometimes lack there of. With improvements in these areas, he could blossom into an effective linebacker for this unit.
11 TJ McDonald
McDonald played good football this season. His numbers were good 86 tackles, 3 interceptions and 1 fumble recovery. By all accounts, he was a good football player for this team. Not a whole lot jumped off of the page when it comes to him but his play was solid throughout the whole season.
McDonald showed a knack for the football this season but wasn’t good enough, at least in my opinion to crack the top 10. That being said, having 3 safeties in the top 11 definitely proves that this is a position of strength for some time to come.
10 Minkah Fitzpatrick
Minkah Fitzpatrick was all over the field for the Dolphins this season. The rookie out of Alabama was highly touted out of school as one of the best defensive players in the draft and one of the best at Alabama. He was exactly as expected.
The problem with Fitzpatrick was how he was used throughout the year. Constantly being forced to bounce around on the field may have complicated his play a bit. He has the tools to be great in this league and his first season was solid justification for this, but he needs to be used properly to maximize his potential as a perennial pro-bowler.