New Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver conducted his initial press conference Thursday, speaking for some 20-plus minutes after being introduced by head coach Mike McDaniel.
Weaver was hired to replace Vic Fangio after spending the past three seasons with the Baltimore Ravens.
Here are five takeaways from that press conference:
1. Hint on the scheme
The biggest question with the arrival of Weaver, as is always the case with a new defensive coordinator, concerns what kind of scheme he'll bring with him and he suggested it would be multiple, which we could mean to take as a cross between the blitz-happy style the Ravens — and the Dolphins — employed in 2022 and the less aggressive style for both teams this past season. Weaver said he likes blitzing but that he has to "done with a purpose." This is where we'll point out that maybe the two biggest plays in the Kansas City Chiefs' Super Bowl victory against the 49ers on Sunday — the third-down stop after the two-minute warning and the third-down stop in overtime — came as the result of blitzing.
2. Hands-on approach
Unlike Fangio's preference from calling the defensive shots from the booth on game days, Weaver says he'll want to be on the field. "I need to feel right, what's going on in the game for you, how the players are reacting to a situation and hopefully be a positive influence in whatever reaction that is. I don't think you can have that same effect from up in the booth."
3. Lessons learned
I asked Weaver what lessons he learned from his first stint as a defensive coordinator, one year spent with the Houston Texans in 2020, and his first reference was something Fangio had said about his experience as head coach of the Denver Broncos from 2019-21: Don't take a job ahead of a pandemic. Yes, 2020 was the COVID season. More tangibly, Weaver said he learned how to deal with setbacks. "Problems are gifts. With all the adversity that we dealt with throughout that season, although we didn't get the results on the field we wanted, I felt like that unit as a whole always stayed together and fought their butts off till the bitter end. Now, what did I learn? I learned when problems (arise), you better be multiple enough in your scheme handle whatever situation arises. You better make sure that you have answers, schematically."
4. Meeting McDaniel
While Weaver coached with McDaniel with the Cleveland Browns in 2014, Weaver pointed out he first met him in 2006 when he was a defensive lineman with the Houston Texans and McDaniel was a quality control assistant. "Who you guys see on a week-to-week basis is who he has always been. I had a tremendous amount of respect even though I didn't play under him directly. But I just saw his work ethic as a veteran player at that particular point. And then when I had the opportunity to coach with him in Cleveland, I was like, Oh, he's special. It took the rest of the world a little bit longer to see that."
5. Player nuggets
The most revealing Weaver had to say about specific players involved Jalen Ramsey and his plans for him, which we covered in another story on AllDolphins.com. He also mentioned being impressed with Jaelan Phillips' physique, prompting him to come up with one of his funny lines during the press conference. "I saw Jaelan Phillips with his shirt off the other day and he made me want to go put a sweater on," Weaver said. "That guy is chiseled,”
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