There weren’t a lot of silver linings on defense for the Miami Dolphins in Week 1 against the New England Patriots. If you were searching for them, we would point to New England “only” scoring 21 points, the strong performance of second year defensive tackle Christian Wilkins and we’d probably point to the sufficient play in the secondary. Specifically the rookies.
The Miami Dolphins had two rookie defensive backs play a large role for the defense in Week 1 against Cam Newton and the Patriots: safety Brandon Jones logged 34 snaps and cornerback Noah Igbinoghene played 37 snaps. And, if Pro Football Focus’ scoring is to be believed, both Jones and Igbinoghene were among the top rookie defense performers in Week 1 of the season.
Jones finished Week 1 with a 65.3 score — the eighth highest score given out to a qualifying rookie defender throughout Week 1. Among the performers to receive a better score? 1st-round picks Chase Young, C.J. Henderson and Javon Kinlaw — not bad company to be in for Jones, who served a pivotal role as a 3rd-safety as the team looked to combat New England’s physical approach.
Igbinoghene was called into action in a variety of ways thanks to veteran cornerback Xavien Howard working with a “pitch count” in his first game back from offseason knee surgery. Given Howard’s time on the COVID-19/reserve list and that lost rehab and conditioning time, Igbinoghene became an even bigger asset to help fill in for Howard.
His 54.8 final game grade might not leap off the screen at you, but it scored better than fellow 1st-round picks such as CB Damon Arnette, LB Patrick Queen, CB AJ Terrell, LB Kenneth Murray and LB/SAF Isaiah Simmons.
