Here's what new Dolphins safety Marcus Maye can offer DC Anthony Weaver

Marcus Maye is now a member of the Miami Dolphins and people are quite excited. This move presents an interesting opportunity, as Chris Grier and new defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver clearly felt the team needed some safety depth following mandatory minicamp.

This spring, plenty of people were hoping Miami would draft Cooper DeJean.  He was there for the taking, and the top rated safety in the draft class.  However, Miami went with stud pass-rusher Chop Robinson in round 1 and eventually used a sixth-round pick on Patrick McMorris. However, McMorris isn't exciting a lot of people.

New Dolphins safety Marcus Maye has loads of potential for Miami

Because of that, Miami needed to help out Weaver, who will implement a 3-high safety look that was a staple formation for the Baltimore Ravens last year.  The problem for the Dolphins was overall depth.  Jevon Holland and Jordan Poyer are your two starting safeties.  After that, the depth is made up of McMorris, two practice squad members and a former cornerback trying to transition to safety in Nik Needham. With money available with the Xavien Howard release, Grier needed to get something done for the position. Enter Maye.

He's very instinctive, quick, athletic, and plays the deep zone and single high safety positions.  The problem is, can he stay healthy?  Through 2017 to 2020, he was a baller - everything you would want from a second-round selection.  The New York Jets paired him with Jamal Adams and they were one of the youngest and more athletic safety combinations in the league. In the 2020 season-opener vs. the Bills, Maye was downright sensational. Take a look for yourself:

• 10 Tackles
• 2 sacks
• 2 quarterback hits
• 2 tackles for a loss
• 2 passes defended
• 1 forced fumble

That is wild.  Take a look at Holland's statistics and tell me a game where he had anything similar? In his prime, Maye was a force.  Fast forward to the past two years, and Maye has been an afterthought.   In 2023, he was suspended and then placed on injured reserve, which eventually led to the Saints dropping him all together this offseason. Now at the age of 31, can Maye produce in Weaver's defense? 

Maye is not going to start unless either Poyer or Holland are on the sideline with an injury.  Maye will however be a key figure in the 3- high safety looks, because that is where he can excel. Maye is not a gambler, so he won’t take reads that don’t make sense.  However, his eye discipline needs a little refinement.  Weaver can teach him that.  

Remember, Weaver was trained by Rex Ryan in Buffalo, and he had first line insight from Mike Macdonald last year in Baltimore.  Weaver now owns his first defense, and decided that he wanted a player from the University of Florida, which is ironically where both Weaver got his first coaching gig, and where Maye went to school.

There are signs everywhere why this deal makes sense.  Although Miami fans didn’t get the safety they were looking for, the Dolphins might have found one who fits perfectly with their new system and coordinator.