Behind Brooks' Impressive First Miami Season

Early in the second quarter, the Texans tried to run a pin-pull concept on the Dolphins. Tight end Dalton Schultz pinned down the Dolphins’ edge rusher while offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil pulled into space.

Brooks keyed the play from the start, wasn’t fooled by some pre-snap motion, fired downhill, and sneaked through the gap for the tackle. His speed allowed him to beat wide receiver Robert Woods block and make the play.

Brooks’ play against the Texans helped the Dolphins’ defense have one of its best games of the season against the run.

If you remove the fake punt on which Houston ran for 35 yards, Miami allowed only 42 rushing yards Sunday, and 15 came from a Tank Dell reverse that should have gone for no gain. The defense’s success rate vs. the run was 85.7%, the highest mark of the season, according to TruMedia.

Brooks can’t take credit for all of that success, and it should be noted that Houston has struggled to run the ball all season. Still, it’s hard not to notice Brooks when reviewing the film.

Besides his speed, Brooks’ strong tackling ability is another reason for his strong run defense. According to PFF, he’s missed just seven tackle attempts all season. For reference, Long, who hasn’t played since Week 8, has missed 17 tackles this season.

Brooks The Pass Rusher & Pass Defender

Playing well in coverage is incredibly difficult for modern linebackers. Skill players are faster now, and offenses use more motion and play-action than ever before. Motion and play-action arguably affect linebackers more than any other defensive position.

With that in mind, if you look at Brooks’ pass defense stats, they won’t look overly great. He’s been targeted 68 times and allowed 51 catches for 550 yards, the most on the team.

However, most of Brooks’ coverage reps are him giving guarding space in shallow zone coverage and then making a tackle once the ball is caught. Brooks’ value comes in when you consider some of the times he’s forced the offensive into a negative play.

Brooks leads the Dolphins in passing game tackles that have produced a negative play for the offense, also known as “STOPs.” Brooks has 15 STOPs, 11 more than the team’s next-closest linebacker.

Defending the pass isn’t just about winning in coverage, either. It’s also about disrupting the quarterback before a pass is even attempted. This is especially true for linebackers, who are not expected to be stalwarts in coverage.

Brooks’ 18 pressures this season rank seventh among qualified linebackers, and his 13 quarterback hurries rank fourth. He’s also fourth in pass-rush win percentage, meaning Brooks isn’t getting all of his production as a free runner on blitzes — he’s beating blockers with pass-rush moves.

These numbers are important for a multitude of reasons, but it’s been extra impactful for the Dolphins, who have dealt with a lot of injuries to key pass rushers this season.

Bradley Chubb still hasn’t returned to action from his 2023 injury, and Jaelan Phillips suffered a torn ACL in Week 4 after returning from a torn Achilles he suffered last season. Rookie Chop Robinson has come on lately, and Zach Sieler is as good as ever, but Miami’s overall pass rush numbers are underwhelming.

Miami is 26th in total sacks with 27 and 18th in total pressures with 172, according to TruMedia. If you remove Brooks’ 18 pressures, the Dolphins would drop all the way down to 25th.

While neither number is ideal, Brooks’ impact is at least keeping Miami out of the league’s bottom quarter.

Who Should Miami Pair With Brooks Long Term?

The only question remaining for the Dolphins is what type of linebacker to pair Brooks with next season. Walker is a good player to keep around, but he’s not someone who should be taking the majority of reps at this point in his career.

Instead, the Dolphins should look to add multiple linebackers this offseason with different skill sets. Walker’s replacement should probably be a veteran since he’s calling the defensive plays in the huddle.

Getting someone a little bit bigger and better at taking on contact for that spot would also make a lot of sense. In theory, this would help keep Brooks free to use his speed to make plays.

The Dolphins should also add a primary coverage linebacker this offseason. Because of how the college game has evolved with fast-paced offenses and more spacing, this skill set is often found in the NFL Draft.

Miam also could consider converting a safety to linebacker or investing in a third safety with more coverage ability. That likely was the idea behind signing Marcus Maye and could be a role for Patrick McMorris, a sixth-round pick this past draft.

Either way, adding players with those primary skill sets would go a long way to maximizing everything Brooks can do for the defense. Given how effective he’s been this season, it should be something Miami prioritizes this offseason.