Which Dolphins Safety Complements Jevon Holland the Best?
This is a riddle that the Miami Dolphins have struggled to solve for the past five months.
If Vic Fangio’s defense is built around Jevon Holland’s versatility and playmaking prowess but the secondary hasn’t found another safety with a skill set that allows the instinctive third-year player to roam and vary his roles, will the defense lose some of its bite?
Will Fangio’s defense telegraph the play’s intentions based on which safety is on the field with Holland?
INJURIES A FACTOR AT SAFETY FOR DOLPHINS
Injuries to Brandon Jones and Elijah Campbell have handicapped the competition to determine who starts next to Holland a bit, leaving DeShon Elliott and Verone McKinley III as the only viable choices to start Sunday’s game against the pass-happy Los Angeles Chargers, who are led by cannon-armed Justin Herbert.
The safety paired with Holland is important because the back end of Miami’s defense likely will be under attack regularly because of Herbert’s weapons arsenal.
The Dolphins need someone to play center fielder, serving as the last line of defense in this game, and it can’t always be Holland because Fangio will need him to create favorable matchups in the zones that have been a staple of his defenses the past two decades.
Secondary coach Renaldo Hill predicted the safety battle will come down to this week’s practice, and preparation for the Chargers.
“They all do a good job of taking the classroom out to the field, focusing on all the little details we talk about,” said Hill, who coincidentally joined the Dolphins after spending two seasons as the Chargers' defensive coordinator. “It almost makes me think I’m a good teacher.”
But not every competitor is on an even playing field.
BRANDON JONES' COMEBACK
Jones, the starter from last year, a veteran who has started 24 of 36 games he’s played, has been working his way back from a season-ending knee injury he suffered last October that required surgery in November.
He’s 10 months into rehabilitating the ACL injury he suffered to his left knee, and recently suffered a setback that is supposedly unrelated to the knee.
Jones sat out the entire preseason trying to get healthy, but the clock is ticking.
“At some point he’s going to have to play in the game. We have no preseason games left,” head coach Mike McDaniel said about Jones, who contributed 49 tackles, two sacks and forced a fumble in the seven games he played in 2022. “At some point he will be playing fresh off of practicing and we’ll assess how much (work is needed) later in the week.”
Until Jones is ready to be a factor, Elliott, a free agent addition, and McKinley are the main contenders to be paired with Holland because Campbell is working his way back from a knee injury he suffered in the 31-18 exhibition loss against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Aug. 26.
WHAT CAN ELLIOTT BRING?
Elliott started 35 of the 42 games he played the past four seasons for the Baltimore Ravens and Detroit Lions, contributing 205 tackles, 3.5 sacks, two interceptions and forcing three fumbles. But his coverage range is quite limited. He's the equivalent of T.J. McDonald or Yeremiah Bell, an in-the-box safety, and his presence on the field might limit how Holland is used.
The Dolphins spent all of the exhibition season testing out Elliott’s capabilities, his range, seeing if he can handle all the roles and responsibilities that come with being a safety in this system.
The jury is seemingly still deliberating.
“I haven’t played that much in a third preseason game since like, my rookie year, but I think I really needed it just to get out there and get the calls out,” said Elliott, who contributed a career-high 96 tackles in the 14 games he played for the Lions last season. “I need to run the show for the younger guys, so I think that’s going to help us in the long run.”
McKinley, who was Holland’s teammate at Oregon, is an instinctive football player who excels when it comes to communication. He delivered 11 interceptions during his collegiate career, and pulled down one as a rookie last season when he got called up from the practice squad, and contributed in 10 games, which included two starts.
Holland is making sure he’s prepared to work with whoever the Dolphins put next to him.
“Everybody’s going to be ready to go out there and ball,” said Holland, who contributed 96 tackles, two interceptions, 1.5 sacks, forced and recovered a fumble last season.
What is Fangio looking for from his safeties?
A playmaker, someone who delivers “overall good play.”
That means no busted assignments, which is what typically creates big plays in zone-based schemes, and making the plays that come their way.
“He’s done a great job of making sure we understand that you can’t be a robot,” Elliott said of Fangio. “You’ve got to go out there and be thinking and set everybody else up to make their plays so that’s one of the biggest things for me.”
