Baker Enters Critical Season With More Freedom in Dolphins Defense

2018 second-round pick Jerome Baker is heading into his sixth season with the Miami Dolphins

Jerome Baker can’t name every defense he’s been a part of during his tenure with the Miami Dolphins.

He openly admits having forgotten all the names of his old defensive coordinators — Matt Burke, Patrick Graham and Josh Boyer, for the record — in his previous five seasons as a starting linebacker in Miami.

“Two of them were kind of similar,” Baker said, referring to Graham and Boyer, who each worked under Brian Flores, the architect of Miami's blitz-heavy 3-4 look of past years.

From Baker’s standpoint, it’s out with the old, in with the new. And the faster he can figure out the new, the better off he’ll be.

What has this sixth-year veteran excited about Vic Fangio’s defense, which Miami presently is installing during the second phase of the offseason program, is that it potentially provides him significantly more freedom than he’s had throughout his NFL career.

Fangio's 3-4 scheme isn’t foreign to Baker, but the style of play the defensive front and secondary will utilize is unique, and they both put pressure on the linebackers to perform, serving as the cleanup artists and pressure creators.

The one thing Baker has learned is that Fangio’s scheme encourages him to be himself, and that's a welcomed change.

“It gives me some freedom to just go out there and play ball," Baker said Tuesday. "Sometimes I ask what’s the rule on this, and he gives me, ‘It’s not really a rule. Just go out there and play ball.’  Things like that, for a player (is encouraging), just to have that freedom after playing ball for a long time … I know what I’m doing and he’s giving me the freedom to make plays. I’m excited for that.”

That means no more strict alignments before the snap giving off a specific look.

The lack of structure to the pre-snap alignments probably explains a ton about why Fangio’s schemes during his tenure as defensive play-caller in Houston, Indianapolis, San Francisco and Chicago, and as head coach with the Denver Broncos for three seasons, give off a simplistic look that disguises coverages before each snap.

“It gives you freedom of not having someone looking over your back, making sure everything is (perfect),” Baker said. “Some guys play a different way. Just a little freedom helps.

But with freedom comes accountability.

The good thing about Baker is that his skill sets vary, so he has the potential to fill numerous roles in the new scheme.

Throughout his Dolphins career, he’s been used in every role imaginable, from coverage specialist to a pass rusher coming off the edges.

MASKING JEROME BAKER'S LIMITATIONS

The two knocks on Baker, a former Ohio State standout the Dolphins selected in the third round of the 2018 NFL draft, are that he’s not fast at diagnosing what he sees, and he struggles to disengage from blockers.

But not every linebacker is going to be Zach Thomas or Ray Lewis.

A good defensive coordinator makes the most of his player’s skill set and masks his weaknesses. So it’ll be interesting to see how Fangio handles those warts.

Baker’s body of work has proven that he’s athletic, durable, and has a history of being productive.

He’s averaged 102 tackles a season throughout his five-year career, and also has contributed 21 sacks, forced six fumbles and pulled down three interceptions.

BAKER ENTERS CRITICAL SEASON

Last year was the first since 2018, his rookie season, where the former Ohio State standout didn't lead the Dolphins in tackles. Elandon Roberts, who signed with the Steelers this offseason as a free agent, beat him out by seven tackles.

It’s advantageous for Baker to get back on the tackle throne because he’s entering a critical season.

This year is a prove-it season with Miami because all the guaranteed money in his contract, which got re-worked last season to create salary cap space for Bradley Chubb’s midseason addition, is gone after this season.

That means Baker needs to play like he’s worth the $11.1 million he’s scheduled to make in base salary and bonuses to avoid being purged to create the identical amount of cap space.

To achieve that, he’ll need to pair well with David Long Jr., the former Tennessee Titans starter Miami signed to a two-year, $10 million deal to replace Roberts because Long is more suited for Fangio’s scheme from a coverage standpoint.

Baker said he and Long are studying the defense together, and what benefits them is the fact they are learning it at the same pace.

His job is to help Long learn the style of the defensive linemen working in front of them because understanding their styles will benefit their games.

“Those guys are different in their own way," Baker said. "It’s like any sport, being around the guy for so long you figure out what they like to do. I know Christian  (Wilkins) sometimes is going to shoot the gap and make the play. I know Raekwon (Davis) is going to clog it up. All these guys have different roles and different ways to play the rare. It’s my job as a linebacker to make them right.”