Ramsey or not, the Miami Dolphins defense is still better than last season

The 2023 Miami Dolphins season isn't going according to plan as the Dolphins secondary once again starts out with injuries but fans shouldn't be throwing stuff at their walls just yet. This defense is still better than last year.

For Dolphins fans, the thought of a defensive secondary that featured a healthy Xavien Howard and Jalen Ramsey was an incredible thought that now is going to be pushed back until December at the earliest but we should realize that the sky is hardly falling.

Last year, fans endured a season where Bryon Jones never touched the field or the practice field for that matter. They watched as up and coming youngster Trill Williams bowed out of camp, injured for the year. We watched Nik Needham go down for the season as well early in the year.

Miami relied on street free agents to fill their holes. They relied on young inexperienced undrafted rookies like Kader Kohou.

And in the end, the Miami Dolphins not only advanced to the playoffs they almost beat the Bills in Buffalo in round one. Last year's secondary played admirably and they didn't have Jalen Ramsey or Williams or Needham or Cam Smith.

Miami has improved defensively with the addition of Vic Fangio and LB David Long as well as safety DeShon Elliot. They improved by adding a young CB in the draft and they improved by ditching the zero-cover scheme they ran almost every single play.

Losing Ramsey hurts but imagine this team heading down the stretch with playoff seeding on the line and getting better with Ramsey's return. It is possible, even likely.

Miami is a better defense with Ramsey on the field but they are not instantly a bad defense with him not on the field.