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Miami Dolphins cornerback Ethan Bonner (27) catches the football during mandatory minicamp at Baptist Health Training Complex. Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Why McDaniel Likes the CB Room and Why X Didn't Mark the Spot

Originally posted on Miami Dolphins on SI
By Alain Poupart | Last updated Aug 18, 2025 3:55 PM ET

The Miami Dolphins cornerback room has taken its shots throughout the summer, lowlighted by one comment suggesting it might be the worst position group in the NFL.

But head coach Mike McDaniel pushed back Monday against the idea of adding a name player — oh, somebody like Xavien Howard — and expressed his support for his nationally under-the-radar group.

McDaniel did say the Dolphins considered the idea of bringing back Howard, who didn’t play last season after Miami released him in a salary-cap move in the offseason, but in the end Howard has returned to the NFL as a member of the Indianapolis Colts.

“I think inherent in our job responsibilities is that we consider everything,” McDaniel said in the Zoom media session Monday. “So we make a ton of moves that we don't make, if that makes sense. You consider everything. Happy for X.

“There's a lot that goes into the final roster, one of which is evaluating your guys fully. And then also there's opportunities every day that you’re grading our guys versus whoever is available. That's just the nature of the National Football League. And then you have another cutdown date where there's more of that that goes on. But I would say the best way to answer it is it's kind of inherent in our responsibilities. Consider all those things, and there's a possibility that we could add somebody, and there's a possibility that from our professional opinion, the better players already on our roster, I think that's part of the reason. So meticulous with the evaluation process and to see how people respond and not just saying this name plate from last year isn't as good as the other name plate for last year. People are defining themselves every day, so I let them define themselves by their play.”

ANOTHER INJURY SETBACK AT CORNERBACK

The Dolphins cornerback room already has seen its best player, Kader Kohou, go down with a season-ending knee injury, which followed that of newcomer Artie Burns.

The position group suffered another setback in the preseason game against the Detroit Lions when Ethan Bonner left the game with a hamstring injury. McDaniel said Monday that Bonner would be sidelined for weeks.

That leaves 2024 rookie free agent Storm Duck in the lead role after he starting three games last year, along with Kendall Sheffield, Cam Smith, rookie fifth-round pick Jason Marshall Jr., rookie free agents B.J. Adams and Ethan Robinson, returning player Isaiah Johnson, and training camp pick-ups Jack Jones Jr. and Mike Hilton.

McDaniel was asked to explain why he remains confident in his current group of cornerbacks.

“Detailed commitment to technique and fundamentals that I know of absolute certainty is the difference between winning and losing, being one of 11 and evaluating people for what they're doing,” McDaniel said. “The challenge is not to find the names that make us feel most comfortable on the front end, it's trying to be real and find the best players. I think there's a reason why there's so many surprises each and every football year — and that's how many times has everyone predicted the correct order of each division winner, and who's second, third or fourth, and how many times are there surprise players? Well, that's all because there's a ton of work. Pete Carroll once told me, like my first owners meetings, the one thing that you can't ever forget is that you can't assume that people are the same every year, after every offseason. And so, I think I understand it, but I do think it's the same conversation every year, where people are assuming that teams or individual players are the same person that they've known.

“And when you don't have a long resume of NFL production, you assume that that's because they're not good. And I think that's probably why there's a disconnect. Because we're all evaluating people off of days, weeks, very, very focused, intentional instruction and evaluation. With the Miami Dolphins our opinions come from the field and how people are producing and when there's other people that are better served for this organization to do those jobs, and we have the ability to target those players we always do that, but the training camp, and really offseason, training camp is where players define themselves, both good and bad, and we're watching of a lot of guys go after their dream and some good stuff each and every day that's hard for you guys to report.”