Thursday afternoon, during Day Two of Miami Dolphins training camp Cornerback Jalen Ramsey suffered an injury to his meniscus. It would require a full meniscus repair which would take him out until at least December. Because of this, the Miami Dolphins organization took action, and Saturday Night signed former Cincinnati Bengals Cornerback Eli Apple. Apple was drafted 10th overall in the 2016 NFL Draft by the New York Giants. Throughout his career, Apple has played in 88 NFL games, 78 of them he started five interceptions and 335 career tackles. However, last season with Cincinnati, he was targeted 72 times which was tied for 34th in the NFL and allowed 41 receptions which were tied for 43rd in the NFL last season.
The Dolphins’ Cornerback room is a solid yet really young group of cornerbacks outside of Xavien Howard. The second-year undrafted Cornerback Kader Kohou was coming off a very good first season for Miami with 72 tackles and one interception and was third in pass coverage in 2022. But more than likely, Vic Fangio will start Kohou as a slot Cornerback, which he was very good at last season, and also Nick Needham is still on the PUP list.
The Dolphins drafted Cornerback Cam Smith from South Carolina in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft. Dolphins fans, including myself, have high hopes that the first-year corner will succeed in Vic Fangio’s scheme. Although it would be pretty cool to see Smith rise up to the occasion and go take the starting corner opposite of Xavien Howard, we, as Dolphins fans, have to be realistic about this and not get our hopes up as high as we want to for Cam Smith to get the starting job.
Finally, there’s Cornerback Noah Igbinoghene, who has been a big bust since being drafted by the Dolphins in 2020. Noah has had more bad moments as a Dolphin than good. Time and time again, Dolphins fans wait for Noah to give the team some good production, and he has yet to break out on the Dolphins’ defense. The only bright spot he has had as a Dolphin was a game-winning interception against the Pittsburgh Steelers, but outside of that, his time in Miami has been incredibly underwhelming.
This leaves the Miami Dolphins possibly starting the newly signed Eli Apple until Jalen Ramsey is back on the field. During Monday’s press conference, Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel revealed that Ramsey told McDaniel, “Tell me what the timeline is, and I’ll beat it by a month.” However long Jalen Ramsey is not on the field, newly signed Cornerback Eli Apple could be his replacement, with Kader Kohou playing slot Cornerback unless Cam Smith and Noah Igbinoghene out perform Eli Apple between now and September 10th, I would say Eli Apple is the top candidate to start alongside Xavien Howard Week One against the Los Angeles Chargers.
I also believe that working with the Dolphins’ great receiving core during practices is only going to make Eli Apple a better Cornerback. Lining up against Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle, and Braxton Berrios in practice is truly going to test his speed, as in the past, Apple has struggled with yards after the catch and letting receivers get by him.
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