What Dolphins players on both sides have noticed about new defensive coordinator Fangio

Esteemed coordinator Vic Fangio arrived in Miami with a stacked defense, anchored by two Pro Bowl cornerbacks.

Now he has one Pro Bowl cornerback, and it will be interesting to see whether his zone-heavy defense can maximize the talents of Cam Smith, Kader Kohou and Noah Igbinoghene — three players who could be impacted by the injury that will keep All-Pro Jalen Ramsey sidelined until at least November.

Though Fangio hasn’t shown his players everything, they already know they’re being coached by someone special.

“He’s like a guru to me,” linebacker Duke Riley said. “Any time he talks, I try to write everything down he says because if I want to coach one day, I want to take some of his stuff and use it as well.”

Riley said he already has a sense for why Fangio has been so successful.

“Just the way he breaks down every detail in his scheme,” Riley said. “I’ve been around a lot of coaches, and I can say he’s one of the smartest guys on defense that I’ve been around. I personally have learned so much from him within a few months that’s going to help my game.

“Just seeing things the way he teaches it, and you learn that from every coach. Every single coach you’re going to pick up a few things. Fangio has been around so long and he’s seen so much. He’s able to break things down to a different level because he sees it from so many different angles and so many different guys and teams and schemes. I think he’s great for us.”

Igbinoghene said: “I see why this defense was very successful because it’s very complex. It confuses the offense and now we’re really able to really run different coverages that look the same and it allows our players on the outside – our safeties, our linebackers, our D-line — to really make plays in different types of ways than what we had before.”

What is Fangio’s teaching style like?

“You have coaches who are loud and rah-rah,” Riley said. “He’s more — I’m not going to say laid-back, because he’s not laid-back at all. But he’s just big on detail and persistent on situational awareness. You could say he’s a student of the game with what’s going to happen. Helping you anticipate things.”

For offensive players, what’s the biggest challenge with Fangio’s defense?

“I think structurally, it’s the disguise,” tight end Durham Smythe said. “A lot of smart guys in our secondary and with Vic’s defense, they can disguise things until the last second. What that does for us in the middle of the field is No. 3 receivers, tight ends, slot receivers, you’re looking at the safeties after the snap and you’re having to change your route 5 , 10 yards down the field. So that can definitely get confusing at times.

“I think on the edge it’s letting those guys kind of be themselves. They can do whatever they want as long as they win, and when you have athletes like we do on the edge, that’s tough when they’re kind of let loose like that.”

Those edge players are wreaking havoc so far in training camp. So are Christian WIlkins and Zach Sieler.

“Very tough. It’s very tough,” quarterback Tua Tagovailoa said of Fangio’s defense. “It’s hard to distinguish what’s going to happen presnap and post-snap. I think Vic does a good job with his defense and aligning guys where they need to align and making everything look the same for both run-action, pass-action. And I think what I see a lot more this time, this year with the defense is there’s a lot of communication.”

THIS AND THAT

According to someone who has seen the contract, Eli Apple’s Dolphins deal is a one-year contract worth at least $1.6 million and as much as $2.275 million. The $1.6 million base salary is not guaranteed. His signing bonus was $250,000.

He gets $10,882.36 each game he’s active, or as much as $185,000.

His additional $675,000 in playing time and other incentives bring the maximum value to that $2.275 million.

▪ Getting the play call in more quickly, from the coaches to Tagovailoa, has been one point of “emphasis here in regard to timing,” running back Raheem Mostert said. “If you look at how we operate in the ones at least [in practice], we have a play clock down at the end zone and Tua does a great job receiving the play and then giving it out by at least 20 seconds; 15 is the cutoff.

“He still has some wiggle room to get those calls in and also have the coach tell him, ‘Hey, look. This is the play that you need, this is the receiver that you’ve got to look for in this coverage,’ and then once it cuts off, it cuts off.

▪ Mostert has been advising rookie running back De’Von Achane: “I know he’s not necessarily the biggest and I was telling him, ‘Hey, look. You’ve got to use your aggression in order to promote that speed.’ That’s something that I utilize just because I know I’m not the biggest in the huddle or on the field at times. I just try to use my aggression and that will carry over into my speed, and I was trying to emphasize that with him.”

▪ Cornerback Mark Gilbert, who is signing with the Dolphins, appeared in eight games for the Detroit Lions in 2021 and led the USFL with four interceptions last season. Injuries limited him during his final three seasons at Duke.