Vic Fangio says playing time is up to the Miami Dolphins players

A new era has begun for the Miami Dolphins and it could have a long-lasting effect on Miami’s future defenses. Vic Fangio is the DC.

We have been outlining some of what he said in his Monday introduction but one thing stood out, playing time and evaluation.

Fangio was asked about deciding which players should play and those that might not very often. Fangio’s answer wasn’t quite “canned” as some have answered in the past. In a nutshell, Fangio said playing time is up to the players.

He made clear that evaluations won’t happen during OTAs and mini-camps. Fangio said those practice sessions are designed to be “teaching everything.” More specifically, Fangio said that (deciding on playing time) starts in training camp.

"Now there’s some that you’d like to play every play. Sometimes that’s not possible from an exertion standpoint. But a lot of the great players that I’ve been around, they never leave the field very often. – Dolphins media transcripts"

Fangio also mentioned that due to the south Florida heat, is something they have to deal with but he also said that there are plenty of packages that will get players playing time.

While he didn’t say as much, it sounds that Fangio is that old-school coach that plays the players that earn it and know the system and assignements. He wraps his comments simply with “Who plays and how much is really up to the players.”

That’s a clear message that draft status, contract, and whatever else may get a player on the field isn’t really going to fly under Fangio. The fact he believes top players can play most of the game is also important. Over the course of the last few seasons, the Dolphins defense has rotated players in and out of the defense at odd times and those times appeared more that simply getting players needed breaks.

It is going to be very interesting to see how Fangio’s fingerprint appears on the Dolphins roster.