Miami Dolphins taking a New England approach to their defense
By Brian Miller
The Miami Dolphins added cornerback Eric Rowe in free agency and his addition fits with the Brian Flores experience from New England.
When the Miami Dolphins decided that Brian Flores was going to be their head coach they knew they would need to retool their offense and defense and that the entire strategy of how to approach the roster was going to change.
Philosophically the Dolphins are in uncharted water. Chris Grier has a different view of how to build a roster than his predecessors that date back to the days of Nick Saban. As a scout Grier worked his way from the bottom to the top and he has culled a lot of different opinions to form into his own.
Enter Brian Flores. There is a Patriot connection with Grier. His father was a longtime Patriot scout and Grier is familiar with how the Patriots do things. It is one of the reasons that Flores was important to the future of the team under Grier. They seem to be on the same page with the same vision and when they speak, it becomes much clearer.
It is hard to imagine what the offense under Chad O’Shea will look like but we are starting to see the beginning of a defensive unit that will be run by Patrick Graham and Flores. Both with Patriot ties and you only need to look at the signing of Eric Rowe to see where this might be going.
The Patriots defense is built on multiple look formations that rely heavily on the secondary. New England will often find a way to use six defensive backs in their schemes to confuse offenses. The addition of Rowe makes sense. First he has spent the last three seasons with the Patriots and Flores. He knows the system that they run and the assignments.
Rowe will act as more than a sixth member of the secondary. He will help install and explain the assignments that are given. The game situations that have resulted in Patriot corners being in the right place at the right time. Making plays at the line of scrimmage or down field.
The Dolphins have Xavien Howard, T.J. McDonald, Reshad Jones, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Cordrea Tankersley, Walt Aikens, Cornell Armstrong, Bobby McCain and a few others that they can build the defense around. Not all will make the team and how well they integrate with each other and into the scheme will determine that.
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Miami’s defense is going to look much different in 2019 and even again in 2020 as more changes are made. Defensive end and defensive tackle are positions that should be addressed this year in the draft. Both positions are deep in potential talent. Linebacker is a position that should be addressed in 2020.
Through all of this the Dolphins have to balance the re-build of the offense including quarterback and the offensive line. There is a lot of work to be done.
For now the first hints of what Miami’s defense might look like may have been tipped with the addition of Rowe. It is a small signing but one that makes sense on a team that may be trying to emulate that of New England’s. Until we see the product on the field however, it will be hard to know for certain.