McDaniel Gives Update on State of Dolphins Cornerback Competition

Cornerback is the biggest hole on the Miami Dolphins roster.

Through the release of Kendall Fuller and the more-than-likely trade of star cornerback Jalen Ramsey, the Dolphins are holding an open competition for several starting spots.

Following the team’s final day of Mandatory Minicamp, Coach Mike McDaniel teased that there might be some standouts, but he’s more concerned with how the cornerbacks respond when the team comes back together for training camp.

“Going into the five weeks off, I’m not going to hedge my bets on any particular individual,” McDaniel told reporters on Thursday. “That’s not to say that there wouldn’t be a leader in the clubhouse. This offseason has been tremendous, and I think there’s been some great boundary corner work because of the safeties, dime, weakside linbackers, and the quarterback.”

Although McDaniel was hesitant to name specific players who stood out, he did spend a lot of time talking about what he’ll need to see from some of the Dolphins’ cornerbacks to feel confident in their ability to start.

Communication Is Everything

Miami’s cornerback room is filled with inexperienced players, but the more challenging part might be that many of the players are completely new to playing with each other. The only returning starter is Kader Kohou, and Storm Duck had 358 defensive snaps last season.

Outside of them, Artie Burns and Kendall Sherfield are low-investment free agents, while Cam Smith (injuries), Isaiah Johnson (injuries), Ethan Bonner (buried on depth chart), and B.J. Adams (UDFA) have barely played, if at all.

Because of that, McDaniel is more focused on how the backend communicates than on who is slotted where on the depth chart.

“You try to interweave people, particularly on the backend, who might have to communicate,” McDaniel said. “There are a lot of different variations of a secondary that happen during the course of the year, more than an offensive line. You have to get guys to communicate and challenge people in a competitive atmosphere.”

McDaniel even joked that he could go out there and play a rep at cornerback just to see how that affects things on the backend.

It's hard to speculate which players have really stood out, but it should be noted that Duck and Bonner both earned the orange practice jersey, given to the player who had the best performance at the previous practice, during Organized Team Activities.

Cam Smith Is a Wildcard

The one player McDaniel was asked directly about was Smith, who is heading into his third season after being selected in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft.

Smith’s career (with the Dolphins, at least) is likely on life support as he’s butted heads with defensive coordinators, struggled to stay healthy, and hasn’t been impactful during his limited playing time thus far.

Despite that, McDaniel is happy with the way Smith has responded this offseason.

“Cam is in a great spot, doing an outstanding job,” McDaniel said. “His key is: how is he going to build on it? After these eight weeks, we feel good about a ton of things that we’ve communicated that he’s been able to make gains on in his game… moving forward, we’ll see what he makes of that.”

Smith developing into a reliable starter would be one of the best short and long-term developments for the Dolphins’ roster this season. While it’s a good sign that McDaniel is speaking well of Smith, like he mentioned, the real test will come later this offseason.

Potential Reinforcements?

Even if the Dolphins’ coaching staff is happy with how the cornerback room is coming along, reports indicate the team has been in contact with several veteran cornerbacks.

The Miami Herald reported that the Dolphins haven’t reached out to the recently released Jaire Alexander, which makes sense, given his odd fit with the team.

McDaniel was asked about the team adding Alexander this week, and mostly beat around the bush, but did mention the team would explore all options.

Other options include former Buffalo Bills cornerback Rasul Douglas and former Los Angeles Chargers cornerback Asante Samuel Jr. Douglas struggled last season, and Samuel Jr. is coming off multiple injuries, making neither player a surefire solution.

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