The PFF View of the Dolphins' Defensive Talent
By a lot of different measures, whether it be points allowed, takeaways or third downs, the Miami Dolphins had one of the most successful defenses in the NFL in 2020.
It was a group that had its share of impressive individual performances, from Xavien Howard's NFL-leading 10 interceptions, to Emmanuel Ogbah's nine sacks, to Jerome Baker's 100-plus tackles and seven sacks, to Andrew Van Ginkel's 5.5 sacks in limited action.
RELATED: The PFF View of the Dolphins' Offensive Talent
How else to explain the Dolphins having only three defensive players ranked among the best at their position by Pro Football Focus, with one of them being a newcomer?
The two returning players are cornerbacks, Howard and Byron Jones. The newcomer is Benardrick McKinney, who came in 20th among among linebackers.
"Over his career, McKinney has been a very good run defender, able to take on blocks at the point of attack well while holding his own in coverage," PFF wrote. "He may never become a superstar, but he has been a consistently solid linebacker."
Even while being among named among the top 32 cornerbacks in the NFL by PFF, Howard would have every reason to feel slighted here at being ranked fourth considering he was third in the voting for NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2020 behind only defensive tackle Aaron Donald and outside linebacker T.J. Watt.
The three cornerbacks ahead of Howard were Jaire Alexander of the Green Bay Packers, Jalen Ramsey of the Rams and Marlon Humphrey of the Baltimore Ravens.
As for Jones, he came in at 14th in the PFF cornerback rankings, which actually might be considered surprisingly high considering his first season with the Dolphins wasn't great statistically — a 108.0 opponent passer rating when targeted — though we'd argue he was a lot more effective than the numbers showed.
But that was it for the Dolphins and defensive players recognized by PFF as being among the best heading into the 2021 season.
PFF ranked the top 32 among interior defensive linemen, edge defenders, linebackers and safeties, and the top 10 among slot cornerbacks.
Not one returning Dolphins player among them.
While Van Ginkel showed great promise, we can understand him being left off the top 32 edge defenders because his body of work still isn't very large. Ogbah certainly would have had a case among edge defenders, though maybe the feeling was that his big season with the Dolphins in 2020 was aberration after four mostly uneventful seasons with the Browns and Chiefs.
We also would argue that Baker belongs among the top 32 linebackers after he was one of only two players at that position in the NFL with at least 100 tackles and seven sacks in 2020. The other was Tampa Bay's Devin White, who was 25th in the PFF rankings.
At safety, a case certainly could have been made for Eric Rowe, who allowed an opponent passer rating when targeted of 79.9 despite his two rough outings against two of the best tight ends in the NFL, Travis Kelce and Darren Waller. Rowe's overall body of work, which included shutting down blue-chip tight ends like George Kittle and Hunter Henry, was very good.
Again, maybe this is a case of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts or a case of analysts pointing success to great coaching.
Whatever the reason, the Dolphins defense sure didn't seem to get a lot of recognition for its 2020 performance.
