Raekwon Bouncing Back is BIG for Phins D

The Phins defense needs Raekwon Davis to bounce back to his 2020 form

Offense, offense, offense has been the talk this offseason, but this 2022 Miami Dolphins team won’t go anywhere without their defense playing at a very high level. With the Bills, Patriots, and Jets investing heavily in their run game, Miami must stop the run to take the division and make their division opponents throw the football in bad weather games. This makes mammoth Raekwon Davis bouncing back to his 2020 form critical because he offers a unique skillset to this defense.

Davis must again dominate the A-Gap

Raekwon Davis had an excellent rookie season after coming on ‘lateish’ in the 2020 Season. At 6’7” 330lb, Davis is a big piece to a smallish defense that historically had problems stopping the run. The massive interior linemen played a big role in getting the Dolphins from the 27th ranked run defense in 2019 to the 16th ranked run defense in 2020. Unfortunately, Davis was injured in the 2021 opener only a few plays in and was knocked out for a couple of game and it took a few more games to get back to reasonable form after the knee injury.

In 2020, PFF graded Davis with a 71.1 Overall and 66.8 and 71.0 in his run defense and pass rush, respectively. The knee injury he suffered in 2021 was brutal and it was an amazing accomplishment to come back the way he did. but he wasn’t healthy all season and his effectiveness suffered. PFF gave Davis an overall grade of 36.5 with pass rush grade of 54.1 and run stop grade of 36.1. I give Davis a 100.00 overall grade in toughness to play through that injury deep in the trenches and handle double-teams ta’ boot!

Raekwon Davis is the rock of Gibraltar for the Phins run defense

Thankfully, Davis has had plenty of time to recover fully from the injury and get back to full strength. I love both Christian Wilkens and Zach Seiler inside… but not so much as a nose tackle in the 0-1 Technique. This is where Davis showed himself to be such a dominator of the A-Gap in 2020. You can bet with the best pay per head that his size and play in the middle of the defensive line is a big help in getting Ogbah, Wilkens and Seiler thrive on the flanks.

The defensive line and edge players group is the deepest group on the Phins defense. But, Davis has such a unique skillset and size that without him being his best, Miami will suffer in their run defense. I don’t think it was a coincidence that the Dolphins run defense stiffened up after he returned to full time play and posted the 13th best run defense in the NFL. Yes, PFF gave him a bad rating, but opposing offenses still had to commit more than one blocker on him quite often to make sure he didn’t ruin their inside run game.

Let’s, hope the big guy is back to 100% in 2022! Go Phins!!!