Last season, the Miami Dolphins‘ defense put together a fairly lackluster performance. The Dolphins entered the 2023 campaign with a lot of talent, and after disappointing relative to expectations the year before, they brought in a new defensive coordinator in Vic Fangio — who is widely considered one of the best defensive minds in football.
Yet rather than taking a significant step forward on defense, the Dolphins were mostly just fine on that side of the ball. They checked in 10th in yards allowed, but 22nd in points allowed, 19th in FTN’s DVOA and 14th in Tru Media’s version of EPA per play. Beyond that, Dolphins players were almost uniformly not happy playing for Fangio.
In case it wasn’t already clear, safety Jevon Holland made things pretty explicit on Tuesday. At Dolphins OTAs, Holland was asked about the difference between Fangio and new defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver.
“A complete 180,” Holland said, via NFL Media. He continued, noting the specific distance. “It’s the fact that [Weaver’s] a good person that makes a difference.”
It’s perhaps not surprising to hear Holland take this stance. After all, he was the one who posted an Instagram video of himself literally kicking rocks upon news of Fangio’s departure.
Holland wasn’t the only one who was thrilled at the news.
As part of his goodbye to now-former teammate Xavien Howard, cornerback Jalen Ramsey also took a shot at Fangio, who opted to return to Philadelphia and be close to family. He went on to become the Eagles’ new DC this offseason.
“Shid be crazy how stuff plays out sometimes but 1 thing ikno fa sho is that it was an honor teaming up with the GREATEST corner in MiamiDolphins History in my opinion…” Ramsey tweeted. “(I won’t ever forgive dude for not utilizing our full skillset!)”
Time will tell if the Dolphins’ defense performs better this season than it did a year ago, but it’s already very obvious the players themselves are feeling better about things under new leadership.
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Author: Jared Dubin
May 21, 2024 | 3:20 pm
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