MIAMI DOLPHINS ROSTER BREAKDOWN - PART 4

In the final part of our team review we take a look at cornerback and safety, areas where the team will need help this coming season.

Starting at cornerback, Darrell Baker Jr. and Alex Austin have provisionally been anointed as starters but that is likely to change unless they have been held back the last couple of years. Baker went undrafted and latched on with the Arizona Cardinals for training camp in 2022 but never made the cut. The Colts picked him up, and in week 15 was elevated to the active roster. In 2023 he played in 14 games, started six and finished second on the team in pass break ups.

That wasn’t enough to keep him around as he was waived before the 2024 season. The Titans claimed him and he ended up playing all 17 games, including 9 starts. 2025 was much of the same as he appeared in all games with 10 starts. Miami then signed him at the start of the league year, he comes with the most experience out of all cornerbacks, which is a telling point as to where the secondary is talent wise.

Austin was drafted in 2023 by the Bills at 252 but didn’t make the team, the Texans claimed him, but he didn’t last the season. The Patriots nabbed him in November of 2023 a day after his release, and he went on to play in the last games of the year. The following two seasons he would find himself on injured reserve, finally suiting up for the divisional rounds in 2025, but that was the end of his time at New England. Miami have obviously seen something, that or they have taken a gamble because he doesn’t bring a huge amount of experience with him, which is a concern.

The are plenty of players filling out the position, but none have a huge amount of playing time. JuJu Brents looked solid in the small sample we saw before he got injured, Storm Duck has a great name but can’t seem to stay healthy and Marco Wilson was a fourth round pick of the Cardinals, started in his rookie season but was released two years later, then bounced from the Patriots to the Bengals to injured reserve and found his way to Miami.

Rounding out the position are AJ Green and Ethan Bonner, both were on the team last season, Bonner played in 14 games, Green saw action in 3, between them they recorded 16 tackles and 1 interception, maybe they are waiting to be discovered, but at this point neither are viewed as starters, or even backups.

Jason Marshall Jr. is down as the nickel corner but whether he will stay there is another matter as his natural position is on the outside. Because of injuries and a solid showing in the pre-season he came out of camp as the team’s starting slot corner, but it was far from plain sailing, before his own injury he had less than great coverage grades. He got a chance to play on the outside against the Commanders due to others being injured and performed well so it remains to be seen what the new staff do with him.

Backing up Marshall are Ethan Robinson and Jason Maitre, neither of which have played an NFL snap at corner or nickel.

As a collective group there isn’t much to write home about and it has to be a priority need in the draft, if you can’t stop the pass you are going to get burned time and again, it doesn’t matter how good your offense is, just ask the Bengals.

With regards to safety, Dante Trader Jr, and Lonnie Johnson Jr. currently sit atop the depth chart. Trader played in all 17 games as a rookie last year and started 3, he finished with 55 total tackles, 1 pass defensed, a forced fumble and a recovery, those numbers are ok but do need to improve. The folk at PFF graded him as the 14^th best run defender but 71^st when up against the pass, if as expected he wants to be a full-time starter his coverage skills need to improve.

Johnson came into the league back in 2019, drafted by the Texans in the second round, he stuck with them for three years before being traded to the Chiefs, but he didn’t make the team and has bounced around ever since, the Dolphins being his eighth franchise. Over seven seasons he has started 22 games, aside from tackles he has one tackle for loss, four interceptions and no sacks, not much to write home about. With the Raiders last season he played 321 snaps, garnering a PFF grade of 95^th amongst the 98 qualified safeties, so expectations shouldn’t be that high.

Behind Trader and Johnson are Isiah Johnson, Zayne Anderson, Jordan Colbert and Omar Brown, all of which went undrafted and have had stops at various teams. The only one of them with game time experience is ex Packer Anderson who has played in 47 games, starting 2. Expect Sullivan to draft a safety because Trader is the only one that could possibly offer a modicum of comfort, but it is a concern.

All in all, the team have so many holes to fill that it is quite feasible they are going to be short handed at a position or two this season, it isn’t as if they can go and sign some top-notch free agents thanks to the eye watering dead cap number. Jon-Eric Sullivan must nail his first draft and can’t afford to take any risks if he wants the team to have any degree of success.