After a season that saw the Miami Dolphins come up just short of the playoffs, missing a chance at postseason football for the fifth year in a row, general manager Chris Grier knew that his front office would need to improve aspects of the roster.
And, that’s exactly what they did.
While Grier has been on the receiving end of quite a bit of criticism during his tenure in Miami, some of which has been deserved, he’s put together a team that looks like they should be able to compete for a chance to play in late January.
However, there are still some spots on the Dolphins’ depth chart that seem to be lacking behind. Many will point at cornerback and talk about Xavien Howard, Byron Jones and Nik Needham are all adequate to great starters, but their depth is questionable. That’s probably a statement that most would agree with.
Noah Igbinoghene, coming into his third season in the NFL, is slated as the fourth cornerback on the roster, but there’s been little proof that he can be a capable player at the position if an injury were to take out one of the starters.
Behind Igbinoghene, the Dolphins have Trill Williams, Keion Crossen, Quincy Wilson and a couple of undrafted rookies in Elijah Hamilton and Kader Kohou.
While that may be an uncomfortable position to go into the season with, inside linebacker may be one that is less appealing.
The Dolphins went into the offseason with most of their linebackers on the free agent market, but they opted to bring Elandon Roberts, Duke Riley and Sam Eguavoen back. They then drafted Channing Tindall out of Georgia with their third-round pick.
Miami’s hope is that Tindall adjusts to the speed and competition of the NFL game and takes over Roberts’ spot at some point, but right now, the veterans are still leading the group into the season.
Roberts, at 28 years old, is set stone as an early-down player with his strengths being against the run while Riley will likely play more on passing down. They showed that in 2021, and unless Tindall makes a significant jump through training camp and preseason, that’s the way they’ll look heading into 2022. That leaves a lot to be desired at the position.
