How Badly Have the Dolphins Missed Calais Campbell?

To say that the Miami Dolphins are dealing with growing pains at defensive tackle may be an understatement. 

The Dolphins have a rotation that includes a pair of rookies alongside Zach Sieler after relying last year on six-time Pro Bowl tackle Calais Campbell, who had 12 tackles for loss and five sacks in his 17th NFL season. However, the youth movement hasn’t delivered early results through six weeks.

Miami has the NFL’s worst run defense at 168.5 yards allowed per game, giving up an average of 192 over their last three. This all comes after Miami was a top-10 rushing defense last year, allowing just 104 yards per game on the ground. 

While Sieler and the defense are struggling up front, head coach Mike McDaniel wouldn’t say that the void left by Campbell’s decision to sign with the Arizona Cardinals in free agency is a root cause of the team’s issues. 

“Each team is unique to their own way,” McDaniel said. “I have a lot of positive things to say about him, but to just say that things are this or that, however – he’s a good player and I liked having him on our team.”

Opposing running backs average 5.6 yards per carry against the Dolphins, and the defense has been gashed for a league-high nine rushing plays of at least 20 yards. With that in mind, the franchise has chosen to trust the process instead of searching for answers outside the building.

“If your first viewing or your first quarter of the season or your first game, if we took the results of that game and mandated that that was an absolute that the players that did whatever they did that day, that’s who they are forever, we’d probably miss out on a lot of major players in this league as you grow as a young player,” McDaniel said. “So what you’re doing is you’re taking a snapshot of what that was, conceivably what can you coach and improve with the player. Are there things that they are unable to do through coaching, and then you match that versus what’s available to you. 

“Just because you’re not active doesn’t mean by any stretch that you’re complacent.”

Sieler has played 78 percent of snaps as Miami’s top defensive tackle but has just two tackles for loss and no sacks through six games after back-to-back seasons with 10.

Following Sieler are the two rookies, first-round pick Kenneth Grant (53 percent of snaps) and fifth-round pick Jordan Phillips (43 percent). Grant has 12 tackles and 1.5 sacks, while Phillips ranks 13th on the team with 13 tackles, none for loss.

Grant has played about 30 defensive snaps per game over the last three weeks after averaging roughly 40 in each of his first three. Phillips played around half of defensive snaps during the first three weeks, but Week 6 marked his first game over 32 percent since Week 3 against the Buffalo Bills.

Benito Jones, who started 15 games for the Dolphins last season, is also in the mix with five tackles. He played 34 snaps last week against the Los Angeles Chargers, the first time the fifth-year vet played over 20 snaps this season. 

Matthew Butler, a 2022 fifth-round pick of the Las Vegas Raiders, has eight tackles but hasn’t played more than 43 defensive snaps in any game this season. He matched his season low with 13 snaps against the Chargers after being called for unnecessary roughness on a field goal attempt early in the first quarter.

GM Chris Grier said around draft time that the Dolphins tried to bring back Campbell, but the veteran indicated he wanted to return to Arizona, where his career had begun in 2008. If other factors were involved, Campbell hasn't mentioned them publicly to this point.

The Dolphins haven’t found a formula that works without Campbell, but McDaniel is giving the inexperienced group time to figure things out instead of looking for solutions elsewhere. 

“The easiest answer is grass is greener, but you have to really focus on [is] what are they able to do, what are they doing, how can we adjust and with the thought of their best stuff is better than what we extrapolate is available, so it’s our job to try to get them to do their best stuff and it improves,” McDaniel said. “The run defense wasn’t exclusively at one position and specifically, it’s the bigger gains that have really ate up the clock, gotten first downs and that has to do with all three levels when those occur. We had less than we did the week before and that was absolute sole focus. 

“I saw the real growth in the unit on most clips that I’ve seen thus far this year, so you’re making sure that really the performance improves, whether that’s the same nameplate or someone different.”

Who Have The Dolphins Missed the Most? 

Miami’s offseason roster changes extended far beyond the defensive front, considering that 14 players who either started or played significant snaps last season are no longer with the team. The Dolphins have a completely new secondary, shuffled starters along the offensive line and moved on from playmakers that had some of their best seasons in McDaniel’s offense. 

While there are plenty of new faces on the roster, here’s one man's ranking of the most significant losses six games through the 2025 season: 

1. DL Calais Campbell
2. CB Jalen Ramsey
3. TE Jonnu Smith
4. G Robert Jones
5. DL Da’Shawn Hand
6. OLB Emmanuel Ogbah 
7. T Terron Armstead
8. S Jevon Holland
9. CB Kendall Fuller
10. RB Raheem Mostert

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