I'm seeing plenty of confusion and odd takes about the Dolphins' LB unit in 2020.
My family are all making biscuits so here's a #thread

First up - Coach Flores comes from the NE defense school. This seems obvious but it cannot be overstated.
He started working for the Pats when he was 24 and stayed for 15 years.
Obviously almost every facet of his philosophy and coaching approach was learned in that environment

So it's not a surprise at all that his defense was similar in 2019 to the Patriots - and is probably going to become more similar in 2020.

The Patriots [and Lions and Dolphins] defense is pretty unusual in today's NFL.
It's a hybrid scheme so it uses lots of odd and even fronts. Depending on situation.
But here's a couple of pics to show their most common defensive front alignments...

Against the Dolphins last season.
3 down linemen.
a 1-tech [nose tackle] and 2 DEs outside the tackles] in my book. The extra TEs confse it slightly.
With two edge players in a 2-point stance way wide.

Here's the play right after.
Note the similar front - even though it's a very different personnel group.
The Dolphins switched from a heavy set to a spread so the secondary is very different.

Here's the Dolphins defensive front the same game.
Similar eh?
This is no coincidence

Now obviously both teams line up in different fronts and alignments.
A lot.
But those ones are very common and they are helpful for illustrating who does what in this scheme - and understanding what 2020 will likely look like.

First - let's look at the 5 major Patriots LBs from 2019.
Number 1 is Jamie Collins.
Here's how he lined up.
Plenty as an orthodox LB. Quite a lot outside. And in the slot a bit too

If you go back to the Pats pics above you can see that the OLBs simply shifted outside a little and lined up with the slot WRs.
That's the difference between being a pass rushing OLB and a slot DB.
There's a lot of overlap for some players.
Regardless - Collins can do it.

Next - Dont'a Hightower [enemy of autocorrect apostrophes].
Fairly similar - but a bit more inside and less in the slot.
It's worth noting that Hightower is exceptionally mobile for a bigger LB.

Next - Kyle Van Noy.
Some of you will be surprised by him being on the edge nearly 90%.
He has played inside sometimes in NE.
But only when injuries required it.
He's primarily an edge player in this system.

Ja'Whaun Bentley.
He's basically purely an orthodox, inside LB.
He's also not that great.
Remember when people thought he was a breakout #FFIDP last year?
That was funny.

And Lastly Elandon Roberts.
He's also really just an inside LB.
And is worse than Bentley.
Although he is a very good run defender.

So to recap:
Jamie Collins and Dont'a Hightower were the top guys. They can play inside and outside depending on personnel.
Van Noy was an edge player.
Ja'Whaun and Elandon limited to specific personnel inside.

OK. Now let's look at the Dolphins and see what they were doing shall we?

Jerome Baker was the top guy.
I thought he sucked in 2019 though.
Either way here's his alignment deets.
Mostly inside.
But 150 snaps as OLB and 80ish in the secondary.

Sam Eguavoen was bad too.
The whole Dolphins defense was bad.
Sam E split his time fairly evenly between inside and outside LB.
Remember - in this scheme the OLBs are often right up on the line of scrimmage.
Not an OLB in an old fashioned 43 with 3 guys off the ball in a line.

Raekwon McMillan
Mostly inside. But with some time on the edge.
He can stop the run but he's a bad pass rusher and abysmal in coverage. So this makes sense.

Vince Biegel.
Some of you may be confused as to why I'm including him here.
Because many people think he was a DE.
Look at the scheme. Ignore Ourlads or "official" depth chart designations.

And here's Trent Harris and Andrew van Ginkel lumped together.
Both OLBs in this scheme.

Hopefully you've spotted some similarities by now.

Here's Kyle Van Noy compared to the 3 main OLBs the Dolphins used last year?
Similar eh?
Van Noy is very likely going to play a similar role in Miami to his 2019 Patriots usage.
Harris [ex Patriots] and Van Ginkel aren't very good.
No shock that Coach Flores chose to upgrade.

Collins and Hightower against Sam E and Raekwon.
Similar eh?
The difference is quality.
Hightower and Collins can both play in coverage.
Eguavoen and McMillan cannot. At least they never have.
Expect the Dolphins to bring in more competition - or attempt a hell of a coaching job.

This comparison is more about differences.
Baker was asked to do a lot more than Roberts or Bentley.
But none of these guys was asked to play outside.
So as a Dolphin it's very unlikely Roberts is asked to do it now.

Here's a different view.
Snaps in each phase for both teams' LBs last season.
Baker had to play waaaay more coverage snaps than any Pats LB.
Because the team was defending the pass so much - and the Dolphins didn't have anyone else better.

Let's cut that data a different way.
As proportions look at the similarities:
- K Van Noy and V Biegel
- S Eguavoen and D Hightower
- J Collins and J Baker
- J'W Bentley / E Roberts and Raekwon Mc

Hopefully you can see how similar these schemes are. Coach Flores is trying to recreate a similar defense to the one he spent 15 years learning - and having great success.
But he didn't have the horses last year.
This is why he's brought 2 of his old Pats LBs in.

So this year we should expect:
Jerome Baker to play the Jamie COllins role. It's the most productive. I also suspect they'll draft another player to push him.
Kyle Van Noy to slot in and be the primary OLB opposite Vince Biegel.
...

...
Raekwon Mc to play a limited, inside, run-stopping role. Next to Elandon Roberts.
These guys are ideally going to play limited snaps because they cannot play effectively in coverage.
Expect poor returns.
...

And that's it really.
I hope that makes sense.
The main point is to try and look deeper than just what Ourlads or team depth charts say.
If you try and identify what players are actually being asked to do by coaches it can be a lot clearer.

#End