The top three Miami Dolphins free safeties since 2000
Roaming the secondary and attacking the ball are the key characteristics you need from your free safety and the Miami Dolphins have had some great ones.
The Dolphins have been fortunate enough to have some great players assigned to that position, since 2000, but what does the future hold for the newer ones?
Since 2000, the Dolphins have seen a player that only missed one game, drafted another prospect, but he hasn’t started a game at Free Safety, and then resigned another play to a lucrative contract before he even played one game with the Dolphins. Here’s the top list of Free Safeties since 2000 for the Miami Dolphins:
#3 – Minkah Fitzpatrick
Believe it or not, Minkah was actually drafted to play Free Safety. How much has he actually played at that position is a discussion for another day. The reason why Minkah was drafted in 11th overall in the 2018 NFL draft was based on his performance during his college tenure at Alabama playing the “robber” technique for Nick Saban.
Last year, Minkah was asked to play multiple positions, as the Dolphins needed him to become a jack of all trades, based on injury or underperformance of other teammates on the roster. That right there could tell you why a change was needed in the Dolphins front office this past offseason.
Taking all that into consideration it’s difficult to evaluate Minkah at a position that he has very limited tape on. However, based on pure talent alone, all fans and media experts believe that there could be something special in his development.
The biggest characteristic that Minkah carries with him is his knowledge. That’s hard to believe as he’s just going into his second year. Minkah is what you call a pure student of the game. He loves all aspects of the game of football, which include film study. How does that film study assist him on Sunday? Game recognition! Watch the tape again the Minnesota Vikings, where he dissected the screenplay at the line of scrimmage, based on the motion of the guards and wide receivers.
Outside of his development on the field, it’s his character in the locker room that will allow MInkah to take the next step in his development. The Miami Dolphins have lacked a true leader in their secondary for years. There have been a few that try to lead by example, but never a true player that actually demands your respect. To put it in perspective, when was there an Ed Reed type player on the Dolphins secondary? Minkah is that special, that can draw a comparison to Ed Reed.
With all that in mind, what the Dolphins and their fans need to see more from Minkah is his continued development. In all honesty, Minkah is one of the top players on the Dolphins defense, that doesn’t have have a position. Where will he play this upcoming season can be anyone’s guess. Everyone knows that there are two starting safeties currently on the roster, TJ. McDonald and Reshad Jones. Does Jones get traded, (personally I hope so) will help dictate where Minkah needs to line up, and while Jones is working out on his own, Minkah is getting reps at Free Safety and TJ is taking over the Strong Safety role at the Dolphins OTA, but that is not going to last as Training camp, if a trade hasn’t been worked out.
Let’s be honest with each other, Reshad Jones is hindering the development of Minkah Fitzpatrick. The Dolphins are in cap hell, simple due to the fact that they can’t release Jones or TJ, because it cost less to have them on the team, as opposed to cutting them outright.
With all that drama going on, the real loser in all of this is Minkah, as we don’t know how special this kid, let’s hope the new regimen can see that.