Kim Bokamper: Forerunner to the Linebacker/Edge Combination Player

It’s not wise to question judgments made by Hall-of-Fame coach Don Shula and his long-time defensive coordinator, Bill Arnsbarger. But when it comes to the career of Kim Bokamper, it may be fair at least to ask.

So here's the question: Why did Shula and Arnsbarger keep the undersized Bokamper at right defensive end in Miami's 3-4 base defense the last four years of his career?

He'd been a designated pass rusher and was so effective in 1981 that, outside of Hall-of-Famer Fred Dean, there were few better. But one year later, he was moved to starting right defensive end.

And then everything changed.

Now, to be fair, there were reasons ... and we'll get into that. But what if Bokamper had remained a designated pass rusher? What then? How much more accomplished could he have been?

As I said, it's fair at least to ask.

Bokamper was a defensive end at San Jose State University where he was a NEA second-team All-American. Chosen by Miami in the first round of the 1976 NFL draft, he was a tall, rangy athlete who could run (6-6, 245, a 4.7 40) and was viewed as a replacement for Bob Matheson, he of the famed "53" defense.

The "53" was a scheme named after Matheson's uniform number, and it meant that when he was on the field the defense could switch from a 4-3 to a 3-4 without changing personnel. Matheson was versatile and could play both defensive end and outside linebacker to make the defense viable.

After missing his rookie season with a knee injury, Bokamper in 1977 became the Dolphins' starting left outside linebacker when they committed to the 3-4 as a full-time base defense. In sure passing situations, however, he moved to left defensive end, his hand in the dirt, as the Dolphins converted to a four-man front.

It was a role similar to Matheson's, and Bokamper thrived in it. In 1978 he had eight sacks. The following year he made the Pro Bowl.

In 1980, defensive end A.J. Duhe moved to inside linebacker (oddly, at the suggestion of a sportswriter to Shula) and began to do a lot of blitzing in base and play defensive tackle or defensive end (either side of the line) in passing situations.

When Duhe was at left end in the nickel, Bokamper’s role was altered. He’d stand up or play inside. You might even find him playing left defensive end in base, too, but it wasn’t ideal for a 6-6, 245-250-pound player. Nor was it something you'd want him to do full-time.

When 1981 came, he didn't have to.

The Dolphins that year acquired outside linebacker Bob Brudzinski from the Rams, and he took over at the left outside linebacker position. That meant Bokamper would be cast in a different role -- as a designated pass rusher, playing only on passing downs -- and he excelled at it.

It wasn't just the 7-1/2 sacks he had that season that made him effective; it was the pressures he applied to quarterbacks, too. His inspired play extended to the playoffs, with Bokamper producing two sacks and deflecting a pass in the 1981 playoff Dolphins-Chargers marathon.

One historic note that season: When Arnsbarger expanded his zone-blitz scheme, calling it "Zone to Bo," he'd blitz Duhe or another linebacker and have Bokamper drop to fill that player's zone-coverage responsibilities. Arnsbarger had toyed with it in the past and thought Bokamper's skill set would make it work.

He was right.

In fact, then-Bengals defensive coach Dick LeBeau began to implement it into his defenses. When he did, the popularization of the zone blitz spread. While LeBeau credits Arnsbarger as the original seed, most think LeBeau took it to new levels.

In 1982 Bokamper began the season in the same role, but, due to injuries, became the starting right defensive end a few games into the season. 

Undersized for the position, he didn't fit the "PQs" (physical qualities) coaches desire. He was simply too light, ill-suited for a two-gapping scheme where defensive fronts were pounded play-in and play-out.

Nevertheless, Bokamper was reasonably effective at his new home. He had 7-1/2 sacks in 13 games, including the playoffs. Furthermore, Miami made it to Super Bowl XVII where Bokamper just missed intercepting a Joe Theismann pass and scoring. 

He had a tipped pass in his hands when a hustling Theismann knocked the ball harmlessly into the grass.  Had he held on, Miami would've had a 24-13 lead, and the outcome could have been different. As it was, The Hogs and a Diesel wore down the Dolphins' defense and pounded home a 27-17 victory.

A game of inches, indeed.

For the last three years of his career, Bokamper was never moved back to his third-down pass-rush role. Instead, he stayed as a 3-4 defensive end, with diminishing results. From 1983-85 he totaled just 8.5 sacks (including the playoffs). 

He gutted it out, gave it his all and would make splash plays from time to time (a pick-six in 1983). But he was not the big-play player he’d been before.

Sure, the move had to be made in 1982 due to injuries, but in 1983 ... and beyond ... why not a return to the nickel rushing role where he was so successful? Had Bokamper been allowed to stay there who knows what he might have accomplished.

As it is, he has an excellent legacy.

He was part of the "Killer B" defense and was the guinea pig in Arnsbarger's zone-blitz notion. Had he entered the NFL in the early 1970s, he probably would have been a fine 4-3 end when that was the dominant NFL defensive scheme - a heaver, faster Fred Dryer perhaps.

The same goes had he arrived much later. He might have been a Jason Taylor-type or maybe an Aaron Schobel, Patrick Kearney, Grant Wistrom, or Kyle Vanden Bosch – a high-motor edge rusher who was often a double-digit sack guy with lots of pressures.

But, as fate would have it, Kim Bokamper went to a team that first put him in a new and unique role, then tried to fit a square peg into a round hole. It asked him to play a 3-4, two-gap end -- a position usually reserved for a 280-300-pound men ... and left him there.

If it hadn't, how different would his career look today? Who knows? But, as I said, it's at least fair to ask.