If the Miami Dolphins are meant to overachieve this season, they need a bunch of unproven players to step up at just about every spot on the roster. Any given unit you look at in Miami has someone (or multiple someones) whose efficacy on the NFL gridiron is dubious at best.
Excluding quarterback Malik Willis, who's at least shown flashes of brilliance in his young career, in terms of premium positions, the Dolphins' lack of viable firepower is perhaps no more glaring than at defensive end.
Other than 2024 first-round pick Chop Robinson, most casual NFL fans probably couldn't even tell you who's on Miami's two-deep depth chart at that spot.
So who's going to step up once training camp kicks off? To me, the best candidate is a certain former Baltimore Raven who signed a one-year prove-it deal in free agency.
David Ojabo realizing his potential on the edge could be huge for the Miami Dolphins' genuine no-name defense
Old heads know that subheading refers to the perfect 17-0 Dolphins 1972 team, except there probably won't be a bunch of fellas from this year's squad who become household names.
At least in David Ojabo's case, there's some reason to believe in him. The Ravens organization is among the best in sports. Their scouting department is second to almost no one across the league. They saw enough in Ojabo to draft him in the second round even after he suffered an Achilles injury while training during the pre-draft process.
Ojabo missed most of his rookie year in 2022 while his Achilles healed. Unfortunately, he landed on injured reserve the next season as well, appearing in only five total games during his first two years in Baltimore.
The past couple of years have seen Ojabo be relegated to a rotational role, but again, he's been banged up for the vast majority of his time in the NFL.
Ex-Ravens head coach John Harbaugh sharply pointed out back in August of last year — with Ojabo in the midst of his first truly healthy offseason — that he'd just not had a lot of live reps as a football player, via The Athletic's Jeff Zrebiec:
"The thing about David Ojabo, he’s not a guy who played a lot of football...He was late to football in high school, might’ve played one year of high school football. He really only played one year of college football as far as a full season. Then, he got hurt coming out. So, football is kind of one of these games where the more you play it, the better feel you have for it. It’s like any sport, probably, but I think his upside is really there, and I believe that we’ll see it. I think we’ve seen it already in camp. I’m looking forward to the games so everybody can see it."
It'd behoove Ojabo to catch on well with the Dolphins, soak up all the coaching like a sponge, and embrace the opportunity to really vie for a starting job. Josh Uche is his main projected obstacle, but Uche is apparently trying to be an edge defender at a listed weight of 226 pounds. Bless him, I don't think that's going to work out so well.
The far more imposing Ojabo is 6'4", 252 pounds, and whereas Uche's 11.5-sack eruption for the Patriots in 2022 preceded a steep decline, Ojabo has loads of upside to explore. That's not speculation on my part. I'm taking John Harbaugh's word for it, and he sort of knows ball.
We'll see if Ojabo can tap back into that dynamic force he was at the University of Michigan when he had 11 sacks back in 2021 under Jim Harbaugh's watch. If both Harbaugh brothers are all about this guy, though, there must be something there.
If I were the Dolphins coaching staff, I'd make the No. 2 defensive end starting gig Ojabo's to lose.
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