Anthony Weaver Is Checking Boxes Past Defensive Leaders Couldn’t
Credit: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports
Just two days from the start of Miami’s 2024 season, all eyes are on the offense. The additions of Johnnu Smith, Odell Beckham Jr, and Jaylen Wright, to an already dynamic offense, have fans dreaming of scoring records. Yet, despite the fireworks that Mike McDaniel’s preferred side of the ball will create, this season will likely be driven by the performance of the defense.
The Dolphins are on their third defensive coordinator in as many years. And if you count Brian Flores as the defensive leader during his tenure, make that the fourth in four. For a franchise that has fielded elite defenses throughout its history, the last few seasons have seen sparks of greatness swallowed by inconsistency.
The Flores administration, including defensive coordinators Patrick Graham and then Josh Boyer, was visionary in its schematic approach with its “zero blitz” defense.
The Dolphins finished the 2020 season ranked second in the NFL in blitz percentage at 40.8%, and led the league with 29 takeaways. They tallied 41 sacks, good for 11th in the league. The blitzing, a lot of which was “exotic” (coming from defensive backs), allowed the unit to finish top-five in the league in quarterback rating against at just 87.0.
As a leader of players, it was easy to criticize Flores’ tenure in Miami. As a defensive mastermind, it was hard. Say what you want — and we know Tua Tagovailoa had plenty to offer — but the guy can whip up a scheme.
When Flores was ousted after the tumultuous 2021 season, he left his blueprints behind for Boyer. The new DC impressed with his brilliant talent evaluation, but he couldn’t match Flores’ play-calling abilities, and the stats showed it.
In 2022, the Dolphins finished 17th in pressure percentage, down 14 spots from the year prior. The passing defense allowed an abysmal quarterback rating against of 95.3, sixth-worst in the league. Although things looked similar schematically and personnel-wise, the results simply did not match what the did under Flores.
2023 saw veteran NFL stalwart Vic Fangio re-enter the league after a year on sabbatical. Fangio had the pedigree and experience Boyer didn’t, as well as a history of relating to and getting the best out of his Chicago Bears players. None of those qualities came to fruition.
In an interesting paradox, the Dolphins were third in the NFL last year in sacks, despite being 27th in blitz percentage at 21.5%. The secondary as a whole mustered up just 1.5 sacks last season. The exotic blitzes from defensive backs had basically become extinct. Dolphins safety Brandon Jones went from 69 blitzes in 2021 with Flores to 21 with Boyer and just four last season with Fangio. In the same vein, Jevon Holland went from blitzing 51 in 2021, to 21 in 2022, and finally just 5 last year.
That third-best sack ranking was propped up largely by the Dolphins getting 19 from two interior defensive linemen in Zach Sieler and Christian Wilkins. That’s never happened in franchise history, and won’t again after Wilkins’ offseason departure. Those (likely) unrepeatable performances paint the numbers in a way that artificially inflates Fangio’s contributions.
I’ve put you through this long statistical and schematic history lesson for a reason. Since 2019, it has felt like the Dolphins’ defense has had coordinators who’ve had elite traits, but never brought the whole package. After a full offseason and preseason of watching him, we have reason to believe Miami has finally found the real deal in Anthony Weaver.
It rarely makes sense to crown someone in August, but thus far, Weaver has checked all the boxes and looks like he just may be an amalgamation of the best parts of the last few Dolphins’ coordinators.
Like Flores, Weaver brings a unique scheme to Miami with his 3-3-5 set. As shown in the preseason, one of their five defensive backs will be blitzing plenty. Like Boyer, he has a keen eye for talent and has coached some dominant front-seven players over his young career. Like Fangio, he comes with a good pedigree. Although the coaching experience isn’t to Fangio’s level, Weaver has invaluable experience from his NFL player career. That means he can connect with his defense on their level, and not just as a grizzled coaching lifer.
Weaver not only duplicates those strong traits, but he also adds the missing ingredient from every coach mentioned. Namely, his players like him! You can spit at the importance of this notion and pretend we’re still playing in the ’80s and ’90s, when never-ending screaming was considered Best Practice. That is not today’s NFL, and Weaver fits the modern mold that fits right in with today’s athletes.
No more Fangio running meetings through a proxy and coaching from the booth. No more aggressive Belichick-style behavior from Flores. Weaver has deeply engaged in a meaningful way with his new players in South Florida.
The loss of Wilkins and Andrew Van Ginkel will certainly hamper the defense in 2024, and expectations for the unit aren’t exactly through the roof. But with all his tools in Weaver’s tool belt, he may just be able to do more than the others, despite having less.
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