The Defensive Line Situation

Note: I ran down the state of every offensive position before the draft. Now, I'm going to analyze each defensive position before signing off of man-o-dolphins indefinitely. More on that later...

Last year, one of the Dolphins main focuses was rebuilding the defensive line with an eye towards the future. They traded for Jason Ferguson to plug the nose for a few seasons, drafted two true 3-4 ends, Merling and Langford, and added another young end, Randy Starks, to compliment the rookies and holdover Vonnie Holliday.

The results were, overall, very successful. The Dolphins run defense was generally very stout, and the rookies developed nicely over the course of the season. However, this unit is not without issues.

At nose, Jason Ferguson is a tremendous 1st and 2nd down player, but there is little depth behind him. As it stands, Paul Soliai is the backup and future of the position, but it is unclear whether or not he is up to the task. The Dolphins surprised a lot of people by not drafting their "tackle of the future," but they really were in no position to, with greater needs and little value available when they picked.

My opinion is that this was well-calculated by the Trifecta. The Dolphins are good enough at nose for one more year as long as Ferguson stays healthy, and like I said, nobody in the draft really presented an upgrade over Soliai (although I'm sure the staff would be ecstatic if undrafted rookie free agent Louis Ellis could suplant him). The Dolphins will play this year out at the status quo and then spend a high pick, likely their first rounder, on an elite nose tackle next year. There's really no sense in paying a first round pick to sit for a year anyway, so he will be forced to contribute immidiately, and I think this all makes for a sound philosophy considering the state of the Dolphins right now.

As for the end position, the Dolphins let go of Vonnie Holliday, who was a valuable member of the team last year. However, the reason they could do that was because they felt so confident in the youth at the position. To start, the Dolphins couldn't be happier with what they got from Kendall Langford. A starter throughout the season, he figures to start on this team for years to come. Phillip Merling also had a nice year, especially as he rounded into form late in the season. No play was bigger for the Fins than his interception return for a touchdown in Week 17 against the Jets. Randy Starks, on the other hand, was excellent in the early part of last year, but saw his play tail off down the stretch. Still, he figures to compete with Merling for the starting job opposite Langford, and all three will play significant roles in the rotation.

So, between Starks, Merling, and Langford, the Dolphins have three young players who will take care of the position for now and into the future. Thanks to last year's draft, defensive end is a strength, despite that Starks' contract is a bit bigger than was justified from his play. The only real question with this unit then becomes how they are featured in the nickel.

Nickel pass rush was a huge issue for the Dolphins last year. Much has been made about how Joey Porter was our only source of pressure, and rightfully so. Though responsibility is shared with the strongside backer position, the line needs to play a roll in pressuring the passer, especially on 3rd down.

Specifically, the Dolphins chose to reallign up front in nickel situations last year. The nose tackle would leave the game, and the ends would slide down to the inside. Additionally, the outside backers would drop down into three point stances and flank the oxymoronic interior ends as if they were normal 4-3 defensive ends. The results were putrid. In my opinion, this eliminated one of the great advantages of the 3-4, that the quarterback never knows where the pressure is coming from. However, this should all change this year.

With Jason Taylor and Cameron Wake joining the linebacking corps, Miami would do well to find ways to get both of them on the field on third down. As I see it, the easiest and most effective way to accomplish this would be by taking a lineman off of it. I think the Dolphins would be smart to play with only one true defensive lineman on the field, keeping a 3-4 look as opposed to a 4-3, to beef up the nickel pass rush.

Say Kendall Langford and Randy Starks end up starting and playing 1st and 2nd downs, as they figure to. The odd man out, in this case Merling, could simply sub in when the three starting defensive linemen leave on 3rd down and line up as the nose. This frees up Porter, Taylor, and Wake to all enter the game, and that should spell huge issues for opposing quarterbacks, who won't know where the pressure is coming from.

Moreover, whether or not the Dolphins adopt the aforementioned system to help fix the nickel pass rush, the defensive ends need to play a bigger role in harrasssing the Mark Sanchezes and Tom Bradys of the world. Besides that and drafting a top tier nose next year, the defensive line is a position of strength for now and beyond for the Miami Dolphins.