What the Defense Might Look Like Under Weaver

Breaking down the new defensive coordinator's backgroun and tendencies

The Miami Dolphins settled on their new defensive coordinator Saturday when they hired Baltimore Ravens assistant head coach/defensive line coach Anthony Weaver to replace Vic Fangio, who left the Dolphins late last month.

Miami’s defense was productive with Fangio, but it later was revealed that he rubbed some players and coaches the wrong way, leading to a parting of ways.

Weaver’s job will be to pick up the pieces of a defense with a lot of star talent and uncertainty. Multiple big-time contributors are free agents; others are recovering from major surgeries.

Let’s dive into Weaver’s background and scheme tendencies to see what the Dolphins defense could look like under his watch.

Weaver’s Background

Weaver’s career started as a player. The Baltimore Ravens selected him in the second round of the 2002 NFL draft. He was a productive player, but his playing career ended in 2008.

His first coaching job came at the University of Florida as a graduate assistant under Urban Meyer. Weaver quickly worked his way to the NFL, becoming the Jets’ defensive line coach in 2012 under Rex Ryan.

After that, Weaver bounced around for a few years before landing with the Houston Texans in 2016. He served as their defensive line coach until 2019 when he took over defensive coordinator duties in 2020.

The Texans finished the season 4-12, leading to an overhaul of the coaching staff. Weaver returned with the Ravens in 2021 and helped the team have one of the NFL’s best defenses.

Player Development

When the Dolphins and Fangio parted ways, one of the reasons we heard about was that Fangio lacked a “collaborative” process.

Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel released a statement about Weaver on Saturday and in that statement, he emphasized player development and an aligned vision.

"I am excited to add Anthony to our staff, not only for what he will bring to the Dolphins as a teacher and coach but even more so who he is as a leader of men," McDaniel said. "He has a proven resume of success, built on his personal investment in his players. Most importantly, he shares our belief that player development is the cornerstone to both team building and sustained excellence. Through conversations with him and those who have worked with him, it became clear that we have aligned values in football philosophies and coaching."

Weaver’s development of helping defensive linemen is an appealing part of his profile. He’s coached six Pro Bowlers: Mario Williams, Kyle Williams, J.J. Watt, Jadeveon Clowney, Marcell Dareus and Justin Madubuike, who made the Pro Bowl and was a second-team All-Pro in 2023.

Madubike’s development is the one Dolphins fans should pay attention to. The Ravens selected Madubuike in the third round of the 2020 NFL draft. As a prospect, Madubuike was incredibly talented, but he lacked consistency.

Under Weaver’s tutelage, Madubuike became one of the NFL’s best interior disruptors. The young defensive lineman finished 2022 with 13 sacks, the most by any interior defensive lineman this season.

If Christian Wilkins re-signs with Miami this offseason, he could be one of the biggest beneficiaries of Weaver’s coaching. If Wilkins leaves, Weaver already has proven he can get the most from young defensive linemen.

Getting improved play from young players is essential, but so is finding spots for aging veterans to be successful role players. Clowney was a key cog in the Ravens’ defense this past season despite not signing with the team until August.

His 9.5 sacks tied his career high set in 2017 when Weaver was his defensive line coach in Houston. Getting that kind of production from Clowney in his age-30 season is one of Weaver’s underrated accomplishments.

Scheme Preview

Predicting what Weaver’s defense will look like at this stage is quite tricky. He served as Houston’s defensive coordinator for one season (2020), and that defense was almost the complete opposite of what the Ravens did in 2023 under Mike Macdonald.

When Weaver coordinated the Texans, they finished 26th in point differential, 30th in total yards, and 32nd in takeaways. Those aren’t great numbers, but it’s important to remember the Texans battled heavy injuries and struggled in all facets that season.

Instead of focusing on the outputs themselves, comparing the 2020 Texans’ defensive tendencies to the 2023 Ravens’ is probably more informative.

Houston primarily ran a 4-3 defense, lining up that way 22 percent of the time, which was good for the fifth-highest rate in the league, according to Sports Info Solutions.

On the back end, Weaver’s Texans used a single-high shell 62 percent of the time, good for seventh in the league. While that usually indicates heavy man coverage usage, the Texans only used man coverage for 34 percent of their total snaps.

The Texans mostly used a 4-3, one-high safety structure and stacked the box more often than other teams while maintaining coverage versatility.

The 2023 Ravens could not be more different. Baltimore ran 48 percent of their snaps from a 3-3-5 alignment, the second-most in the league. The Ravens rarely played with a stacked box last season, ranking fifth in light box usage rate.

Additionally, Baltimore deployed the third-most two-high shells in the league and only blitzed 18 percent of the time compared to the Texans’ 32 percent.

What does this mean for Weaver’s defense in Miami? Ideally, Weaver should lean more on what he learned with the Ravens this season.

Macdonald’s defense got him a head coaching job, and new Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh is bringing Macdonald’s top disciple, Jesse Minter, to Los Angeles for next season. That defense will start sweeping across the league if it performs well again in 2024.

However, Weaver’s experience with the Ravens and Texans means there isn’t a defensive philosophy he isn’t comfortable with. Weaver should incorporate some of what he did in Houston with the Ravens’ core concepts.

Trying to create an exact copy of what the Ravens did last season would be a fool’s errand. Baltimore had elite, versatile players like Kyle Hamilton and Roquan Smith, who allowed the Ravens to use light boxes without getting gashed in the running game.

Miami has its own batch of great players like Jalen Ramsey and Jevon Holland, but they’re different from the Ravens’ duo, meaning Miami’s scheme should be different, too.

With his vast scheme experience, there are a million different directions Weaver could go. Our best guess is the Dolphins continue to use two-high shells and a light box, two areas where they ranked in the top four last season.

However, Weaver’s defense could be more aggressive in blitzing. The Dolphins blitzed on 20 percent of snaps last season, but that was mostly with top pass rushers Jaelan Phillips and Bradley Chubb.

With both players coming off significant surgeries and Weaver’s heavy-blitz background in Houston, it makes sense that the Dolphins’ blitz rate could rise next year.

Regardless, Weaver has the background and pedigree to be a successful defensive coordinator for the Dolphins. It’s just a matter of whether he can put the pieces together in time to compete at a high level this season. 

The Miami Dolphins History of Defensive Coordinators