How Brooks Has Emerged as a Leader

It’s sometimes uncomfortable, but Jordyn Brooks is stepping into a new role to improve the Miami Dolphins' defense. 

The sixth-year vet isn’t just willing to do what’s needed as a starting linebacker, he’s starting to say what’s required to establish a new defensive standard. 

“It's a challenge, man,” Brooks told reporters Thursday. “It's not easy to do, when you step out front and be consistent day in, day out, follow your actions behind your words. Being an older guy in the locker room now, being a leader, it's something that I honor and that I embrace.

“I just want to do the best that I can for the guys around me, for the team, and do all that I can to help us win.”

Last season was Brooks’ first in Miami. He led the Dolphins’ defense with 1,039 snaps played, starting all 17 games. It was one of the league’s oldest defensive units last year, but behind Brooks, the next three players with the most defensive snaps are no longer with the team.

The 2020 Seattle Seahawks first-round pick set the tone between the white lines in his first season with the Dolphins and is now focused on making his voice just as impactful, which is something his coach, Mike McDaniel, sees as essential.

“Heavy is the crown for the best players on the team,” McDaniel said Friday. “If you don't recognize that this team will go as far as you set the standard for — if ‘JB’ is unrelenting in his individual [role], what is the rest of the crew going to do?

“One of the reasons we have a chance to be a team that we want to be is because guys are recognizing that it is not OK to just be in neutral. You have to be pushing yourself because you're either getting better or getting worse.”

That push to raise the bar already has been visible on the field.

A Heated Moment During Joint Practices

Teams embrace joint practices as another training camp tool alongside the typical 60-minute preseason games. While these sessions tend to get heated and physical, this dispute didn’t involve Miami’s opponent, the Chicago Bears.

A disagreement between Brooks and fellow linebacker Tyrel Dodson reached a boiling point, forcing teammates to get between them and defuse the situation.

 “He was holding people to a high standard, and it became confrontational,” safety Minkah Fitzpatrick said of Brooks. “I think that's necessary when you do anything to a high standard. 

“[Brooks] is a guy that I appreciate playing with, and he's another guy whose energy is infectious and great for our team.”

While the skirmish between Brooks and a teammate was unusual, that doesn’t mean it was unnecessary. Since being drafted by Miami, rookie Kenneth Grant hasn’t heard Brooks talk much, but already understands that it matters when he does.

“Jordyn is a great leader, but he's more of a quiet leader,” Grant said. “But when he needs to speak up, he definitely speaks up, and you hear his tone. 

“Things happen, and we're a team, so we're gonna stick together and hold each other accountable.”

Former Dolphins tackle Terron Armstead was at practice Friday and he said on his podcast, "The Set," the skirmish began after Dotson simply tagged a Bears player to end a play — as per the rules of engagement — while Brooks would have preferred some kind of hit to match what the Chicago defense was doing on the other field.

"The whole time it's going on I'm standing next to Tyreek," Armstead said. "We see the whole interaction. I love it, because neither is in the wrong. (Dotson) is doing what he's supposed to do, tag off, boom. JB is doing what he's supposed to do as a leader, trying to set the tone, set a mindset for your defense. You want to hit, we want to hit. Then, hey, let's do it. I don't know which one of them crossed the line as far as, like, calling each other out, and that's when they start swinging on each other. But that's nothing. That's what you want. That's exactly what you want. You want two alphas going toe to toe, standing on business and ready to go out there. They had a disagreement. They chopped it up after and they went right back on the field.

"But from Jordyn Brooks' standpoint, I love it. (Shoot), had me hyped, hyped. I wasn't ready to go out and play or nothing, but ... yeah. JB, I like it. And T-Dot comes downhill in real life, he does. That's what Jordyn Brooks expects because he knows T-Dot comes downhill. That's what he expects. That's what he wants to see. That's what I want to see. I love that from our defense, man, that mindset, and I know Minkah spoke on it when they asked him about the situation, and he said, listen, Jordyn Brooks just, he just planned at a standard and the expectation that we gotta, we gotta be at, we gotta meet. I'm rocking with that."

Fitzpatrick’s First Impression 

Fitzpatrick returned to Miami in the trade that sent Jalen Ramsey and Jonnu Smith to the Pittsburgh Steelers. After more than five seasons in Pittsburgh, the three-time All-Pro safety quickly noticed Brooks’ passion. 

“He loves the game,” Fitzpatrick said. “We were actually on the way home (recently) from the facility, and we're doing football trivia... he knew every answer to every question.” 

“Honestly, one of the first calls I had with Coach [McDaniel] was about [Brooks] and how he thought that me and him would mesh great together,” Fitzpatrick said, “and how we're similar personalities in regards to the love of the game and the passion for the game. You can just tell he really cares about the game of football.”