Mike McDaniel says Dolphins must go ‘back to the drawing board’ on defense — and the roots go deeper than Anthony Weaver's play calls

The Dolphins' best run-defending defensive tackle this season has been rookie draft choice Jordan Phillips. He has more run stops than any other defensive lineman on the team and is a stout A-gap defender who has illustrated the ability to work the point of attack. And, in the last two weeks, he's played 16 and 23 snaps defensively. Out of 133 total defensive snaps the last two weeks, he's played less than 30% of Miami's defensive snaps. And, of course, the Dolphins have given up 436 yards on the ground these past two games.

It's not just the run game personnel, either.

Chop Robinson, the team's first-round draft choice from the 2025 NFL Draft and a player who posted 56 pressures as a rookie, wasn't much better. He's logged 43 snaps over the last two weeks — 22 and 21 snaps respectively. That's 32% of Miami's defensive snaps.

Dolphins rushing yards allowed in 2025 through Week 5

• Week 1: 156 yards allowed vs. Indianapolis Colts
• Week 2: 122 yards allowed vs. New England Patriots
• Week 3: 157 yards allowed vs. Buffalo Bills
• Week 4: 197 yards allowed vs. New York Jets
• Week 5: 239 yards allowed vs. Carolina Panthers

Bradley Chubb and Jaelan Phillips are dominating the snap opportunities on the edge for Miami. They're logging 66.5% and 68.4% of the snaps on the edge respectively. Chubb has found sack production but he's getting pressure on less than 10% of his pass rush opportunities on the season while having missed over a quarter of his tackle opportunities and struggling against the run. Phillips has been a more disruptive pass rusher, with a pressure rate over 15%, and finally got a sack in Week 5 against the Panthers.

But both have played nearly the amount of snaps as we've seen from Chop Robinson and Matthew Judon combined. It's hard to reconcile.

Player usage questions linger at linebacker as well, where training camp star Willie Gay doesn't seem to have the trust of the coaching staff in any role. He's played 17 snaps through five games on defense and that includes a stretch against Carolina where starter Tyrel Dodson went down with a concussion. Fellow linebacker K.J. Britt took those snaps instead.

Part of McDaniel's stated desire for a solution requires going back to the drawing board. Let's start with who is playing how much and why. The Dolphins, at this point, need to tear up everything they think about their unit.

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