Maye Matters: Diving Into the Dolphins' New Acquisition

Veteran Marcus Maye gives new DC Anthony Weaver more options in the secondary

Safety Marcus Maye in the fourth quarter of a New Orleans Saints game against the Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium last season. / Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

The addition of veteran Marcus Maye not only beefed up the Miami Dolphins depth at safety, it also provided new defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver more options for alignments.

Very specifically, having Maye joining fellow veteran newcomer Jordan Poyer and returning Jevon Holland gives Weaver the ability to do something his old team, Baltimore Ravens, did with a lot of success last season: use three safeties extensively.

In fact, the Ravens used three safeties as much as any team in the NFL last season, as evidenced by tne numbers.

Baltimore's top three safeties last season — Kyle Hamilton, Geno Stone and Marcus Williams — played a combined 2,524 defensive snaps, which was the second-highest total in the league behind only the 2,610 for the Seattle Seahawks' trio of Quandre Diggs, Julian Love and Jamal Adams.

The Ravens also were one of only two teams that had three safeties play at least 600 defensive snaps last season, along with the Dallas Cowboys.

NEW LOOK FOR DOLPHINS DEFENSE

The Dolphins didn't use their safeties nearly that extensively last season, though Jevon Holland's knee issues and Brandon Jones' return from his 2022 ACL injury was a factor.

The Dolphins' top three safeties combined for 2,099 snaps last season — 928 for DeShon Elliott, 708 for Jevon Holland, and 463 for Jones.

But what the Dolphins have in 2024 essentially are three starting safeties with Holland, Maye and fellow veteran newcomer Jordan Poyer.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, it would make sense for Weaver to make full use of all of them, which means a lot of three-safety usage. Another factor is that the Dolphins don't have the same kind of established veteran at cornerback beyond their top two of Jalen Ramsey and Kendall Fuller.

To be sure, the Dolphins likely will offer a lot of different looks to opposing offenses in 2024, but the addition of Maye gives them a whole new option to explore.

MAYE THE CHOICE AMONG MANY SAFETY OPTIONS

Maye was far from the only safety option for the Dolphins once they decided to wanted to add another veteran because there were and remain a lot of big names on the market.

The list includes two of the aforementioned Seattle safeties, Adams and Diggs, along with Justin Simmons, Eddie Jackson, Micah Hyde, Tracy Walker, Jayron Kearse and Tashaun Gipson.

Simmons is the one who clearly stands out here, but this is where we point out that Simmons' cap number the past two seasons came in at north of $18 million, per overthecap.com, whereas Maye was under $3.5 million each of his two seasons with the Saints.

Of the non-Simmons safeties available, Maye was just as good — if not better — of an option as anybody else, especially if he can get back to his New York Jets form.