Miami Dolphins Josh Boyer is the biggest question on defense

The Miami Dolphins hype train is riding faster than Jaylen Waddle and Tyreek Hill combined but the are questions we need to see answered first.

On April 1st, Miami Dolphins were holding their breaths when it was announced that Xavien Howard signed a new contract to stay in Miami. An expensive one but one that has been universally applauded by fans. Miami is keeping one of their best. Once fans realized that it wasn’t an April Fools joke, the expectations of what might happen this year, got a lot higher.

Miami is primed to make a jump in the AFC but the question is will they make a jump in the AFC East? Like it or not, last year ended with Miami in 3rd place but this team is nowhere close to the team that was on the field last year. At least on offense. Defensively, however, little has really changed.

Have the Miami Dolphins done enough on defense? Is the faith that Chris Grier and staff have in the defense a problem?

This off-season, so far, the Dolphins have added CB Keion Crossen who is a standout special teams player rather than a defensive player. The list of free agent additions end with Crossen.

The Dolphins lost CB Justin Coleman to the Seahawks and he was the only loss on defense.

The Dolphins did manage to re-sign the following.

• Duke Riley
• Brennan Scarlett
• Sheldrick Redwine
• Elandon Roberts
• Sam Eguavoen
• Nik Needham
• Elijah Campbell
• Emmanuel Ogbah

Chris Grier made a heavy investment in his own players that were impending free agents and he spent the money to keep his prized defensive end on the roster when many believed it was a foregone conclusion that he was leaving.

Last year, the Dolphins defense was one of the best after a rough start to the season but the Dolphins are banking on this unit to continue to be elite. On paper, they are, or at least should be but there is one person that many fans may be overlooking. His name is Brian Flores.

The Dolphins have invested the 2022 season on Josh Boyer. Boyer has been the defensive coordinator the last two years but how much of what Miami’s defense has done is a result of Boyer and not Brian Flores?

Miami was running a tailored Brian Flores defense. Many fans wondered who was responsible for the poor play during the big losing streak, who was calling the defense when Miami got embarrassed by the Titans late and the Bills twice?

If Flores was screwing things up then Boyer should be fine but if it was the other way around, can Boyer keep the Dolphins defense flowing in the right direction? He should but then we also have to question the talent, to some degree.

Miami did not add any starting quality players on defense. No game changing linebacker to go with Jerome Baker. The Dolphins are hoping that everyone will continue to develop and that is both good and risky at the same time.

The Dolphins invested a lot of money in the offense and no fan entered the season believing that the money should have been spent to upgrade the defense. It is only surprising that they invested so little outside of their own players but at least they are finally maintaining consistency within the organization.

If there is a weak spot this year, it might be the defense only because while we know what the players are capable of doing, we are not 100% clear on whether or not Josh Boyer can bring it out of them.