Raekwon Davis is the biggest man on the field.
That’s usually not debatable considering he’s 6-7, 340-ish pounds, no matter what field the defensive tackle is on, or what team the Miami Dolphins are playing.
If he were a character in the movie "Life," where comedic stars Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence were making a jailbreak, Davis would be the inmate demanding your cornbread.
He’s the bully of the Dolphins defense, this era’s Paul Soliai or Tim Bowens, for those who remember those dominant Dolphins defenses of the early 2000s.
Like Soliai and Bowens, Davis doesn’t play a glamorous position and, as a result of this he doesn’t put up monster stats.
But he’s the lynchpin that keeps the Dolphins' 3-4 front effective, regularly occupying double teams, and freeing up the linebackers to make plays and the defensive ends to produce tackles.
RAEKWON DAVIS' IMPORTANCE TO THE RUNNING GAME
As proof of his impact, in the 2021 season Davis missed a month of games while rehabbing a knee injury. During the stretch of games he missed, the Dolphins allowed 35.3 more rushing yards than in the games he played.
His play last season was one of the main reasons Miami finished 2022 ranked as the NFL’s fourth-best defense against the run, limiting opponents to 103.0 rushing yards per game.
Only the Tennessee Titans, San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens were better against the run than Miami last season.
“I think he’s ascending,” Dolphins defensive line coach Austin Clark said at the end of the 2022 season. “I know when you guys look at run defense, you may look at yards or tackles for loss, but there’s a guy over there in the middle lining up over the center that’s taking (on) two a lot, and he’s done a nice job.”
Unfortunately, there’s very little glory that comes when your job is to eat up blockers and they’re usually not on the field for rush-specific downs.
So only insiders value what Davis brings to the Dolphins and that’s problematic when it comes time to demand a new contract, and that time is now.
Davis is one of three defensive linemen — along with Christian Wilkins and Zach Sieler — who will become a free agent next offseason. And both those defensive tackles earn significantly more than Davis, who is slated to make $1.38 million this season in the final year of the rookie deal he signed as Miami’s 2020 second-round pick.
Wilkins is expected to earn $10.7 million, which is seven times more than Davis, because Miami picked up the 2019 first-round pick’s fifth-year option. And Sieler, who skipped the two (voluntary) OTA sessions the media attended, is on the books for $2.95 million this season.
All three are pushing to get contract extensions from the Dolphins before the season starts.
RAEKWON DAVIS WOULD BE DIFFICULT TO REPLACE
What’s interesting about those pay disparities is that Davis is the member of that defensive front who would be the most difficult to replace, especially since Miami allowed John Jenkins, his backup the past two seasons, to sign with the Las Vegas Raiders this offseason.
At the moment, Brandon Pili, a former USC standout the Dolphins signed as an undrafted rookie, is Davis' lone backup.
Davis’ play this season will dictate how much he can make playing one of the hardest positions to find in the NFL.
Fortunately for him, in new defensive coordinator Vic Fangio’s scheme the defensive linemen are allowed to be more upfield, more penetrating, which provides them opportunities to be more disruptive instead of gap-filling.
“A couple of things changed up. It’s a little different here and there. A new system,” Davis said. “My job is similar, but it ain’t.”
THE NEXT STEP IN DAVIS' DEVELOPMENT
While Fangio’s scheme remains a 3-4, it requires defensive linemen to do more heavy lifting, power moves, than leaning on twists and stunts to get upfield.
Davis has shown he can play that way at times. But he needs to polish up his rush moves, and develop a consistent plan if he’s going to earn those third-down snaps.
The goal is to earn Fangio’s trust to be on the field in those situations, putting himself in position to become more impactful, and by default, potentially get paid.
Davis’ focus this offseason was to get slim and trim, which potentially would allow him to play more snaps than the 500 or so he’s averaged the past three seasons.
“I feel good. I still have to bring it down a little bit more,” said Davis, who contributed 33 tackles, nine pressures, two quarterback hits and one sack last season. “I’m not at my goal weight just yet, but it’s getting there.”
When asked what that is, Davis refused to answer: "That’s for me. But I’m real close.”
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