Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald put out an excellent collection of thoughts regarding the Dolphins’ early storylines — you can read up on them here. One of the blurbs included in the article highlighted one of Miami’s free agent signings along the defensive line, Tank Carradine. More specifically, that Carradine has dropped weight and currently checks in at 260 pounds, his lowest weight since his time at Florida State.
This has potential to be a very exciting development for the Dolphins. Why? Carradine has logged 5.5 sacks in his career — why would he provide excitement on a team filled with unaccomplished pass rushers?
Because when Tank Carradine played at 260 pounds at Florida State, he was pretty darn good. Carradine logged 11 sacks as a senior defensive end with the Seminoles and was drafted 40th overall by the San Francisco 49ers. By the time Carradine entered Week 1 of his second season in 2014, the 49ers had bulked him up to 295 pounds and asked him to play 3-4 defensive end.
That — unsurprisingly — didn’t go well, and so the 49ers had him cut down weight into the 270s to play outside linebacker. That plan also faltered.
Carradine was a potent pass rusher with his hand in the dirt back in college. Allowing him to work back into that kind of role and try to play at that weight is a wise choice by the Dolphins. If it pays off or not is another story all together — but at least the Dolphins are putting Carradine in the best position to be successful.
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