Dolphins Review: How Did Rookie DTs Perform?

You can see the initial pop and extension Grant makes on first contact, allowing him to easily disengage and make the tackle for minimum gain. He had four tackles in the game, and this was by far the most impressive rep of the bunch. 

Another area that got Grant drafted so high (13th overall) was his athletic ability at his size. The Michigan product is fast for someone listed at 6’3, 335. Combine that with his high-effort mentality, and you get reps like this one. 

Grant falls down on the initial screen release, gets up, and then runs roughly 10 to 12 yards downfield to make the tackle. This is a positive play for the Bears, but it’s also an incredibly athletic play for Grant. His hustle will likely lead to some good plays this season. 

The last area of Grant’s game worth taking a look at is the pass rush. He needs the most work in this area, but he did record two pressures against the Bears. The first was courtesy of Matthew Butler taking out Grant’s man on a stunt. 

The second, shown below, was a nice win in a 1-on-1 situation. 

Grant wins initial hand placement off the snap and shows his strength by just ripping the offensive lineman off his chest. The impressive part is watching Grant bend around a corner. Again, a player at 335 pounds should not have the ankle flexibility that Grant does. 

Overall, it was a solid day for Miami’s first-round pick. He had some underwhelming pass-rush reps, and his pad level got a little high in the running game a few times, but that’s the tradeoff the Dolphins will need to make as he develops. 

Jordan Phillips 

Phillips didn’t show up in the box score as much as Grant, but that was to be expected given his play style. The fifth-round pick out of Maryland has one job — stop the run. 

Although he wasn’t perfect, Phillips did more than enough to show that his traits should translate well enough to the NFL level. His ability to eat up and shed double teams on Sunday jumped off the screen. 

Watch him absorb the initial chip on this play and then help make the stop for minimal gain. 

This is teach tape on how to deal with blockers attacking from the side. Staying upright and engaged in this scenario isn’t easy, but Phillips' natural anchor and strength pull through. 

He shed another double near the goal line on a play that was blown dead because of a penalty, but trust us, it was an incredible rep. 

While Phillips’ run defense lived up to the hype, it’s clear his pass-rush skill set still has a long way to go. Most of his reps were him just trying to collapse the pocket with power. 

This isn’t too surprising since he recorded zero sacks at Maryland last season. However, Phillips had impressive flashes of pass-rush juice on tape. This was his best pass rush rep from Sunday: 

Phillips wins almost immediately because the offensive lineman dipped his head on contact, allowing Phillips to rip right through him — the ball just got out too quickly for it to be charted as a pressure. 

Any pass-rush production the Dolphins get from Phillips is a bonus. He was drafted to be a strong anchor against the run, and his performance against Chicago is encouraging that he’ll live up to that as a rookie. 

Zeek Biggers 

Biggers played the most snaps of the Dolphins’ rookie defensive linemen, but had the least amount of impact. That doesn’t mean he was bad by any stretch, but he was mostly away from the action on Sunday. 

Still, he did flash a couple of times. This rep in the red zone is a great stack and shed to clog up a potential touchdown run. 

Biggers is a bit more of a project than Grant and Phillips. Those two can lean on their run defense and power to affect the game, but Biggers is still trying to figure out how to use his massive size (6-6, 319 pounds with a 97th-percentile wingspan). 

There were a few plays where Biggers got into a good position but couldn’t quite free himself or stick his head across the line. 

As a pass rusher, Biggers needs to get more accurate with his hands. This goes for all three of the players on this list, but the Georgia Tech product is probably the furthest away. 

Watch Biggers try to free himself on this rep. His initial club is not even close to the offensive lineman’s hands or shoulder, leading Biggers to basically punch him in the helmet before getting locked out. 

It’s important to remember that Biggers is a seventh-round pick. He’s on the roster bubble and will need some time to develop. He looked like he belonged on Sunday, and there’s clearly plenty of talent for the Dolphins to work with.