The Dolphins have officially hired their new defensive coordinator: Vance Joseph, the defensive backs coach for the Cincinnati Bengals for the last two seasons. Joseph has 11 years experience in coaching defensive backs in the NFL, with an impressive resume in improving the secondary.
In his two seasons with the Bengals, he has helped them to lead the league with 41 interceptions and limit opposing passers to the lowest passer rating in the NFL of 77.4. In addition, during those two seasons, the Bengals were the only team in the NFL to have more interceptions than passing touchdowns allowed (36 TD’s).
Before joining the Bengals, he spent two years as the defensive backs coach of the Houston Texans and also helped them to make massive improvements. When he joined the Texans in 2011, they were ranked dead last in the league in pass defense, allowing 267.5 yards per game. However, in just his first year he was able to help improve the secondary to become the 3rd ranked passing defense in the entire league by allowing only 189.7 yards per game. The Texans also led the league in opponent completion percentage by nearly two points at a very low 51.9 completion rate and were also second best in the league in opponent passer rating of 69.0.
On paper, most sports gambling fans would say this appears to be a terrific hire. Joseph has turned around two secondaries in the last 4 years and helped make both of these team’s defensive back units to become the best in the league. This clearly shows that Joseph knows how to teach players, and has schemes that work in this league. But, different talent can create different results and the Dolphins, at this point, are one of, if not the, weakest units he has ever coached.
The only knock on Joseph would be that he has never been a defensive coordinator before. Having the best defensive secondary is one thing, but it’s a whole other thing to have to be in control of the entire defense. I am not saying he does not have the capability to control the entire defense, but – as with Gase – he is going to have a lot more responsibility to handle, and in the beginning there is going to be a steep learning curve. All in all, it does “appear” to be a promising hire and it’s a nice cherry on top that he has some NFL player experience. I am truly excited to see what he can do with our defense. As bad as our defense was last season, we at the very least have a few very talented players that our defense can be built around. What are the rest of the Miami Dolphins News fans thought about the Dolphins new Defensive Coordinator? Not know enough about Vance it would be great to get as much feedback as possible!