‘Very Good Problems’ For Phins Crowded Safety Position

Why drafting Fitzpatrick was very good… despite the Safety position being crowded

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Safety is crowded, but without blemish… finally

The Miami Dolphins successfully manipulated the 1st Round by making everyone believe they were interested taking a QB. The interest was so hyped that many believed that they’d trade up to get one. It was mostly subterfuge. So, ‘job well done’, Mike Tannenbaum.

The result of this subterfuge was as Phinsnews expected… an elite defender fell into their laps at # 11.

Even with 4 QBs being selected in the Top 10, GM Chris Grier was shocked that Minkah was available… so was Phinsnews. It was a no-brainer pick for Miami. However, many pay per head shops would argue that Miami had a bigger need at Linebacker than Safety coming into this draft. Phinsnews would have understood picking Edmunds, but we thought Fitzpatrick was THE right pick.

So now Miami has Reshad Jones, T.J. McDonald, and now Minkah Fitzpatrick at the Safety position with Mo Smith as a reserve.

Why draft Fitzpatrick? Didn’t the Dolphins just extend the contracts of both Jones and McDonald? Wasn’t this pairing supposed to finally resolve the issues at the backend of the Defense?

Well, on paper, roughly scrawled-out, that was the theory. But once the pair hit the field together in live games, it became evident they had issues–big issues. Both Jones and McDonald have similar skillsets as safeties. They excel when they are down in the box. Neither are center-field, ‘cover safeties’. In fact, they struggled all season long in that role… and with them the entire secondary.

Free Safety and Strong Safety have different roles and require different skillsets

Here are M.J.’s two-cents:

“Early on in the season, Jones was exposed and opposing QBs began to attack this weakness with greater frequency. This play study shows Jones being victimized by a Drew Brees with a simple pump fake. The Defense is Single High (safety, alone on top, in zone coverage) everyone else is in man coverage (mono-e-mono). Both outside CBs are guarding the receivers, stride-for-stride, in a 9-route and have very favorable inside technique. But from the snap McCain was beaten… but he had the hardest assignment. There’s no reason for Jones to bite on the pump fake to the outside given all the factors… other than poor recognition, awareness, and understanding of his assignment and the situation. This isn’t to say Jones sucks. He doesn’t. But Jones struggles (as most Safeties do) with Single High assignments. Jones lacks the recognition skills and experience to be effective in this role.”

Here is the video of the play:

Elite, Single-High, Free Safties are very rare… only a handful exist in the league

“Below is a video montage of Jones at Safety. Notice his poor angles, slow recognition, speed, and reaction in his role as the last line of defense. This role demands discipline. Jones thrives as a rover… not as a last in line SAFETY.”

“Focus on the last play: Notice how McDonald is dropping back at the snap and Jones is very shallow and flat-footed. This last play is juxtaposed with a similar play of Fitzpatrick’s. These two plays have do have slight differences: Fitzpatrick is in man and Jones in zone coverage (Cover-2, no less!!!). But the routes by the receiver are nearly identical. Fitzpatrick is closer to the line of scrimmage and in a harder position than Jones, who is 20 yards off the ball. Jones just doesn’t have the speed or chops to handle deep coverage consistently. In contrasts, notice how fluid Fitzpatrick is: much greater coverage skills, speed, and agility… being 20 lbs lighter than Jones doesn’t hurt either.”

McDonald is more disciplined than Jones, but still not able to be effective

“McDonald is more disciplined than Jones, but he suffers from the same inadequate recognition, speed, and agility. On the second play notice the one misstep short that cost him any real chance at making a play. With his speed deficiency, McDonald must be perfect. He isn’t. McDonald falls into goose chases and gets burned in the role at the top of the D. Despite knowing generally where to go… he just can’t get there in time.”

Miami finally has someone to get the secondary on the same page

Fitzpatrick has the ability to be a true Single-high, Free Safety because his cover skills are far, far superior to both Jones and McDonald. He has the ability to not just fix, but make a huge weakness into a huge strength.

Fitzpatrick also has the added dimension of being able to play in the box, cover Tight Ends and blitz. His talent will also allow Jones and McDonald to go back to the roles that they excelled at.

Now how will they get all three enough reps to justify their pay and talents? That’s the big question.

It’s hard to determine if it was preparation or talent or both that was the issue in 2017’s Safeties

It will be up to Coach Gase and Coach Burke to find creative ways to get each of these three players on the field at the same time. There was already some talk before the draft that Miami was thinking about moving McDonald to one of the Linebacker spots. It’s a role of the dice for sure, but it’s a worthy experiment.

Miami runs the Nickel package a ton. So there will be plenty of room for all three if they get creative.

Also, it will be good to put Jones in a competition with McDonald. He had a down year in 2017. Maybe this competition will light a fire under him and get the best out of both of them. Of course, Jones got paid and repaid… so we’ll see.

In one more than one critical area the onus falls on the staff to turn this thing around. Good. I want them to sink or swim without excuses. Go Phins!!! What are the rest of the Miami Dolphins News fans thoughts about this good problem we have now at Safety?