Miami Must Throw Chop Robinson Into the Fire
Credit: HAL HABIB / The Palm Beach Post / USA TODAY NETWORK
The Miami Dolphins’ summer was going swimmingly up to this point. Despite being in the midst of contract negotiations, Tua Tagovailoa and Tyreek Hill seemed optimistic about their futures in Miami. Tyreek took the liberty of going on NFL Live to gas up his quarterback, labeling Tua as the second-best quarterback in the league, behind former teammate Patrick Mahomes. Hill also expressed confidence that both of them will get new extensions sooner rather than later.
Meanwhile, general manager Chris Grier signed the likes of Marcus Maye, Calais Campbell, and Odell Beckham Jr over the past couple of months. The Dolphins are hoping to make a deep run in the playoffs in 2024, something they have yet to accomplish under head coach Mike McDaniel. All of the aforementioned players are quality veterans who will be expected to contribute immediately.
What Grier didn’t expect was having one of his key additions retire just days before veterans are set to report to training camp. Shaquil Barrett – who signed a one-year, $7 million deal with the Dolphins this offseason, announced his retirement via Instagram on Saturday citing his desire to spend more time with his family. With Barrett’s departure, Chop Robinson suddenly finds himself as Miami’s top pass rusher entering the start of the 2024 season.
It was never the Dolphins’ plan to force Robinson to be an immediate contributor. The expectation for the first-round pick coming into Miami was for him to be the second option at outside linebacker alongside Barrett. At least, until either Jaelan Phillips or Bradley Chubb became healthy enough to assume their starting roles again With Phillips and Chubb back in the fold, Robinson would’ve likely seen his snap count decrease as defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver oversees his development.
With Barrett no longer in the picture, Robinson is likely in line for the role Andrew Van Ginkel held last year, as the Phins’ third edge rusher. And that won’t happen until Phillips and Chubb return.
Speaking of Van Ginkel, he signed a two-year, $20 million deal with the Minnesota Vikings this offseason, leaving a void at outside linebacker that was always going to be difficult to replace. Barrett was supposed to be the 1:1 replacement for Van Ginkel.
Despite turning 30 midseason last year, he still proved to be a highly productive player for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In 2023, Barrett was effective both as a pass rusher (84.5 pass rush grade) and a run defender (69.8 run defense grade), finishing the season with an overall PFF grade of 75.3. More importantly, Barrett was the only experienced, starting-caliber outside linebacker on the Dolphins roster who was healthy for the offseason program.
With Barrett retiring, there aren’t many quality options at outside linebacker available on the free agent market. Miami worked out Emmanuel Ogbah, who Miami cut earlier this year, as well as journeyman outside linebacker Yannick Ngakoue, who isn’t a three-down player at this stage of his career.
Should the Dolphins sign someone, it would be unrealistic to expect a free agent signing to become the team’s primary pass rusher. They’ll be arriving late into the offseason program, and won’t be as familiar with the scheme, at least not compared to Robinson, who at least attended OTAs and Minicamp. Miami hired a new defensive coordinator in Weaver this offseason, so even a potentially-returning player like Ogbah won’t have the benefit of already knowing the playbook.
That’s a concern, because Robinson is a bit of a project. Although Robinson possesses elite athleticism and is explosive coming off the line of scrimmage, Chop’s hand placement and his overall pass rushing plan could use some refinement at the professional level. Still, the raw talent is evident and he was viewed as one of the top pass rushers in a deep draft class that featured Dallas Turner, Jared Verse, and Laiatu Latu. Even though most Dolphins fans were expecting the team to draft an interior offensive lineman in the first round, Robinson was far from being considered a luxury pick. Doubly so, now that Barrett is out.
With that being said, Robinson will now face a huge test to start his rookie season. He no longer has the luxury of playing alongside a productive and reliable veteran who can help ease him into his new role. Now he must prove that he was worthy of being drafted with the 21st overall pick.
Miami is counting on Robinson to hold down the fort and be consistent on a weekly basis if they want to maintain a formidable pass rush while Phillips and Chubb are still recovering from injuries. At least for now, the Dolphins’ pass rush will only go as far as he goes, which is a tough position for a rookie to be in. However, Chop has all the tools in his arsenal to be successful in his new role as the team’s sudden top pass rusher.
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