2023 Dolphins Training Camp Preview: Cornerbacks
The Miami Dolphins approached the offseason like a team contending for the Super Bowl. They made a big splash by trading for cornerback Jalen Ramsay and bringing in highly touted defensive coordinator Vic Fangio.
The Dolphins are looking to build off last year’s success, which saw them finish 9-8 and make the playoffs for the first time since 2016. However, the team lost to the Buffalo Bills in the wild-card round, extending Miami’s playoff winless streak to 22 seasons.
To prepare fans for a highly anticipated season, we’ve decided to break down each positional group on the roster by giving an outlook for each player, awarding superlatives, and analyzing key questions.
DOLPHINS CORNERBACK OUTLOOKS
Jalen Ramsey
2022 Stats (Rams): 88 tackles, 4 INTs, 18 passes defended, 2 forced fumbles
2023 Outlook: The Dolphins acquired Ramsey this offseason, adding even more star power to a defense with Xavien Howard and Bradley Chubb.
Ramsey has been one of the NFL’s best cornerbacks since he came into the league out of Florida State in 2016. He’s been named to an All-Pro team or voted to the Pro Bowl in every season of his career.
This year, he’ll look to re-create his success from the 2020 season when he blossomed under then-Rams defensive coordinator Brandon Staley, whose defensive scheme is similar to new Dolphins defensive coordinator Vic Fangio’s.
Expectations are high for Ramsey, and whether he meets them will be a huge factor in the success of Miami’s season.
Xavien Howard
2022 Stats: 45 tackles, 1 INT, 12 passes defended, 2 fumble recoveries
2023 Outlook: Howard is coming off arguably one of the worst seasons of his career (even though he was selected to the Pro Bowl). He gutted through some injuries during the season, but he never looked himself in coverage.
Fangio’s scheme will focus more on zone coverage this season. That should put less pressure on Howard, who was asked to do a lot in Miami’s previous scheme, which focused on man coverage.
Howard is getting older and has an extensive injury history already. This season should be a good test of whether he can adapt to his game to succeed well into his 30s.
Kader Kohou
2022 Stats: 72 tackles, 1 INT, 10 passes defended, 5 tackles for loss
2023 Outlook: Kohou was a revelation for the Dolphins last season. He was a UDFA who made the roster and then spent most of the season as Miami’s most consistent cornerback.
Kohou played 534 of his total snaps in the slot last season, so he’ll probably get the opportunity to earn the team’s starting slot position in training camp. However, given how much Fangio likes to move players around, Kohou could still see time playing outside.
Nik Needham
2022 Stats: 5 starts, 21 tackles, 2 passes defended
2023 Outlook: Needham made five starts last season before being placed on injured reserve in October because of an Achilles injury.
Needham can provide the Dolphins with quality depth at multiple spots if he's healthy. He’s got experience playing outside and slot cornerback as well as safety. Needham could also compete with Kohou for the team’s starting slot spot.
Cam Smith
2022 Stats (college): 27 tackles, 1 INT, 5 passes defended
2023 Outlook: The Dolphins selected Smith in the second round of the 2023 NFL draft out of South Carolina. Smith’s college film shows a physical, scheme-diverse player capable of making an immediate impact this season.
With that said, Smith has several established players to climb over to become a starter. It’s not too far-fetched to think he could outperform Kohou (sophomore slump?) and Needham (health).
If he doesn’t, he’ll spend the season learning from Fangio and help the Dolphins move off either Howard or Ramsey when their time comes.
Keion Crossen
2022 Stats: 32 tackles, 4 passes defended
2023 Outlook: Crossen got thrust into the Dolphins’ lineup last season due to injuries. Ideally, he should serve as a depth option on the outside in case Howard or Ramsey go down with an injury.
Trill Williams
2022 Stats: Missed season with torn ACL
2023 Outlook: Williams was garnering some hype last season before tearing his ACL during the preseason. If healthy, Williams has the perfect background — he played a lot of zone coverage at Syracuse — to succeed in Fangio’s scheme.
He’ll likely be competing for reps on the outside with players like Crossen and Noah Igbinoghene instead of slot reps but also could seen playing time at safety.
Noah Igbinoghene
2022 Stats: 10 tackles, 1 INT, 3 passes defended,
2023 Outlook: This is the last year of Igbinoghene’s contract, and the team declined his fifth-year option this summer. The former first-round pick is on his last legs in Miami.
Cutting Igbinoghene would create more than $2 million in dead cap, according to Spotrac. If Igbinoghene has a bad summer, the Dolphins might consider moving on from him sooner than later.
Justin Bethel
2022 Stats: 26 tackles, 1 INT, 4 passes defended
2023 Outlook: Bethel is another player who saw extended time at cornerback last season due to injuries. Bethel is a special teams ace, and if things go according to plan this season, that likely will be his role if he's on the 53-man roster.
Tino Ellis
2022 Stats: Did Not Play
2023 Outlook: Ellis didn’t play last season and will have to fight for a roster spot during training camp.
Bryce Thompson
2022 Stats (Saints): 6 games played, 2 tackles
2023 Stats: (XFL’s Sea Dragons): 9 starts, 34 tackles, 2 interceptions
2023 Outlook: The Dolphins signed Thompson after he had a strong showing in the XFL this spring. He’ll likely be fighting for a roster spot this summer.
Ethan Bonner
2022 Stats (college): 27 tackles, 4 passes defended
2023 Outlook: Bonner is the only UDFA in the cornerback group. The Dolphins have done a nice job developing UDFA cornerbacks in the past (Needham, Kohou), but that has only made Bonner’s path to a roster spot more crowded.
DOLPHINS CORNERBACK SUPERLATIVES
Best Man Coverage: Jalen Ramsey
Best Zone Coverage: Jalen Ramsey
Best Ball Skills: Xavien Howard
Best Run Defender: Jalen Ramsey
Best Tackler: Jalen Ramsey
MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION FOR DOLPHINS CORNERBACKS
Are Jalen Ramsey and Xavien Howard still elite?
The Dolphins have tremendous depth at cornerback. Kohou, Needham, Smith and even players like Crossen and Bethel are great players to round out a strong position group.
But, at the end of the day, the Dolphins are relying on Ramsey and Howard to play like stars this coming season. For Howard, that requires having quite the bounce-back season.
Howard made the Pro Bowl last season, but the numbers don’t support him having a Pro Bowl-caliber season. Howard finished with a 101.2 passer rating allowed, which was the second-highest of his career, second only to 2019 when he played just five games, according to Pro Football Reference.
That’s not going to get the job done this coming season. On the bright side, Howard should be left out to dry a lot less this season since the Dolphins likely will play more zone coverage under Fangio.
As for Ramsey, he too is coming off somewhat of a down year — by his standards at least. He allowed a 84.5 pass rating, according to Pro Football Reference, which is his highest mark since 2019.
The Rams struggled as a team last season, so Ramsey’s play could have had more to do with the players around him than anything else. Ramsey has experience playing in a Fangio-inspired scheme, and his supporting cast (Howard, safety Jevon Holland) should be much better this season.
The Dolphins will be fine if Howard and Ramsey underperform a little bit this season, but they didn’t acquire Ramsey to pair with a player like Howard to just be “fine.” They made the trade to be an elite coverage team.
Whether that actually comes to fruition will be up to Ramsey and Howard.
