Miami Dolphins’ Phillips, Holland assess rookie seasons and what must happen now

The Dolphins’ two rookie defensive dynamos ended their first seasons pleased with what they accomplished – five takeaways for Jevon Holland, 8.5 sacks for Jaelan Phillips - but with a ravenous appetite for more.

For Holland, the challenge is to learn to play -- in his words -- with a calmer approach.

For Phillips, the goal is improving enough to convince the Dolphins to play him on first down.

“Obviously it’s all about trust,” Phillips said. “So my goal coming into next season is to solidify myself as a person that can be trusted on early downs. It’s just about improving all aspects of my game.”

Foremost, that means improving as an edge defender against the run. Pro Football Focus rated him 103rd among 112 edge defenders against the run this season.

“You’re talking about eye patience; that’s something for me that I especially have to work on,” he said. “And just consistency, being in good positions, getting low pad level and different things like that. I’m just really looking to be that consistent and reliable every-down player, but also be able to get after the quarterback like I do.”

Phillips said he plans to work “with some different coaches to try to just hone my craft. I can be hyper-critical of myself and make sure I’m doing everything I need to do to get right.”

There’s no question about Phillips’ skills as a pass rusher. His 8.5 sacks were the most ever by a Dolphins rookie and tied for 28th in the league. Lorenzo Bromell and Bill Stanfill held the previous Dolphins rookie sack record with eight.

There’s also no question about his desire to give back to the community.

Phillips spent several off days this season assisting at Lotus House, which Phillips describes as “a shelter and after-school service for single mothers and their kids who are homeless or who are challenged in that regard.”

Phillips would arrive by mid-afternoon and help any way he could.

“Kids would get off school, and they have a bunch of arts and crafts and games for them to play and workshop things,” he said. “They have like a little nail studio that the little girls go in and are able to do that. It’s just an incredible place and the people who put everything on are incredible.” ”

Phillips, who starred in one season at the University of Miami, said giving back to South Florida is “important to me. People have their different priorities. I’m sure everybody wants to give back.

“I’ve spent a lot of my off days doing community service. I think I went through a lot and experienced a lot in my time at UCLA and transitioning over to Miami. So I think that’s really taught me a lot about how I want to carry myself and what impact I want to have on this world.”

Holland, meantime, ended his rookie season having proven himself as a sure-fire NFL starter with Pro Bowl potential.

Pro Football Focus ranked him third among 94 safeties, behind only Kevin Byard and Antonio Winfield Jr.

“I think my rookie season was pretty good,” he said. “I left some things on the table. I’d like to get those back but that’s what a competitor is. Evaluate yourself, look at what you messed up on, look at what you did good and improve from there.”

What’s the area where he has the most room for growth?

“I would say patience on the field. Being a lot more calm.”

Jason McCourty, who ended the season on injured reserve, told Pro Football Focus’ Doug Kyed last week that Holland “will be as good as anyone. When he got his chance to go out there and start, he quickly became one of the better safeties in our league.

“I remember talking to my brother [New England Patriots safety Devin McCourty] throughout the season. When [Holland] got out there, I was like, ‘Yo, I’m telling you, this Jevon kid, he’s going to be one of the best safeties in the league.’ Already you can tell how good of a player he is, and that’s as a rookie where you have knowledge of the game, you know what’s going on, but now you give him years of development, of understanding, of going against offensive coordinators, knowing what different guys like, his knowledge of the game is only going to grow.”

He earned PFF’s highest grades for a safety since Derwin James in 2018.

And he ended up lining up in five different positions - including 642 at free safety and even 17 at cornerback.

Colleague Daniel Oyefusi has an update on the Dolphins’ coaching search here. As I’ve noted on Twitter this week (@flasportsbuzz), Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll has support inside the Dolphins building, but owner Stephen Ross isn’t yet ready to make a decision.

NFL Net’s Ian Rapoport said Thursday that Daboll is considered by many to be “the favorite” but the Dolphins are “intrigued” by 49ers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel and want to speak to him again after a short initial interview.

Daboll, McDaniel and Cowboys offensive coordinator Kellen Moore will have second interviews with the Dolphins next week.

And as NFL Net’s Cameron Wolfe noted, the Dolphins would love to keep their defensive staff together.

Here’s my Thursday piece on a major change for P.J. Tucker and insight into his future.