Pros and Cons of Dolphins Potentially Adding Douglas

Douglas made 15 starts for the Bills last season, recording 43 total tackles, five passes defended, and one forced fumble. He’s definitely one of the better options available, and he won’t turn 30 until Aug. 29. 

Given that the Dolphins have been reportedly talking to Douglas for a while now, let’s look at how he could fit with the Dolphins this season. 

Scouting Report on Douglas 

We’re mostly going to focus on how Douglas performed last season because that’s the best indicator of where he’s at physically. However, it’s important to note that no matter how many negatives we highlight, he’s an upgrade for the Dolphins. 

The team’s current cornerback depth chart has one reliable, NFL starter in Kader Kohou. Outside of that, the room is comprised of unproven young players and veterans who failed elsewhere. 

Douglas would come in and immediately be a starting-caliber option on the outside. That’s obviously valuable at a position like cornerback. He’s also a primary zone cornerback, which is what the Dolphins like to run under defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver. 

With that in mind, Douglas had a rough 2024 season with the Bills. 

He’s been known as a ball hawk throughout his career (19 career interceptions), but 2024 was the first time since 2020 that he had zero interceptions. He also gave up a career-high passer rating of 116.9 and committed a career-high 10 penalties.

Douglas was a liability for the Bills last season, so much so that they viewed cornerback as one of their biggest needs this offseason. This caused them to spend a first-round pick on Douglas’ replacement, Maxwell Hairston. 

Douglas’ tape wasn’t quite as bad as the numbers would suggest, but he did look like he lost a step last season. He made a lot of impact plays through the years by baiting quarterbacks into bad throws and closing on the ball faster than they’d expect. 

Xavien Howard was a similar type of cornerback at his peak. 

Last year, though, Douglas wasn’t just closing the same, and he looked outclassed in the few times the Bills wanted to play man coverage. These types of struggles are typically the ones cornerbacks experience before they really start to decline. 

And that fall off usually happens around age 30, which is where Douglas will be before the season starts. 

Of course, there’s an argument that Douglas was a victim of circumstance. Buffalo’s safety play was pretty rough last season, so that didn’t do him any favors. Plus, Christian Benford became such a shutdown corner that quarterbacks tended to pick on Douglas more. 

Miami has Minkah Fitzpatrick patrolling the back end, and given how underwhelming Miami’s cornerback room is, passers might stay away from Douglas, preferring to target the team’s younger players. 

Bottom Line With Douglas 

As we mentioned at the start, Douglas is likely better than most of the cornerbacks the Dolphins currently have on the roster. So, it’s obvious they should sign him, right? 

Well, Douglas being better than what the Dolphins have at cornerback says more about the Dolphins than it does about Douglas. If he plays like he did last season with the Bills, he might not be that big of an upgrade. 

As an example, Storm Duck allowed a passer rating of 100.2 in 2024. Now, that stat can be misleading, but it’s much better than what Douglas allowed last season. On tape, Douglas still looks better, but his arrow is pointing down, while Duck’s might be pointing up. 

The real question the Dolphins should be asking is whether Douglas is good enough to take reps away from young players who need them. 

This highlights the unusual position the Dolphins find themselves in as a team. Given how last year went, this should be a high-pressure, win-at-all-cost season for the team’s brass. However, they spent the offseason mostly preparing for the future at the cost of the current roster. 

The team had chances in free agency and the draft to add players who would be much better than Douglas this season and decided not to do so. 

Ultimately, bringing in Douglas makes sense and wouldn’t be a bad move. But acting like he will anchor the cornerback room and that the Dolphins are fine at that spot wouldn’t be wise.