Where Miami Dolphins stand at every position on defense, and notes, heading into April

We examined where the Dolphins stand on offense in this Thursday piece.

Here’s where the Dolphins stand on defense heading into April:

DEFENSIVE LINE

▪ Who’s on the team: Christian Wilkins, Emmanuel Ogbah, Zach Sieler, Raekwon Davis

▪ Who faces uphill climb: Josiah Bronson, Jaylen Twyman

▪ Comment: Barring a trade, Ogbah is safe because his $15 million salary is guaranteed.

The Dolphins haven’t shown an inclination to restructure his contract, which has three years remaining. Because of that, his 2024 cap hit would drop from $17.8 million to $4 million if he’s cut after this upcoming season.

None of his $14.9 million salary in 2024 is guaranteed.

Wilkins and perhaps Sieler are both in line for contract extensions this offseason.

PFF rated Wilkins ninth and Sieler 21st among all interior defenders last season.

Wilkins is due to make $10.7 million, and an extension would lower his cap hit from $10.7 million. Discussions on an extension are underway, and the team considers this a priority.

Sieler is due to make $2.5 million in the final year of his contract. Contract extension talks haven’t yet begun but could in the months ahead...

A backup nose tackle will be added to replace John Jenkins, and this is a sneaky important need, because Miami needs someone trustworthy behind Raekwon Davis, should Davis sustain an injury. It wouldn’t be a shock if the Dolphins used picks 51 or 84 on that position.

This is a big year for Davis, who is entering the final season of his rookie contract. He has played well at times but has just three tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks in 46 NFL games, including 41 starts…

As for the roster long shots, Bronson has 12 tackles in eight career games for Cleveland, New Orleans and Miami.

Twyman, a sixth-round pick of the Vikings in 2021, missed his rookie season after suffered four gunshot wounds when bullets hit the car he was riding in while he was visiting family in Washington D.C. He split last season between the Vikings and Dolphins practice squads. He had 10.5 sacks for the Pittsburgh Panthers in 2019.

LINEBACKER

▪ Who’s on the team: Jaelan Phillips, Bradley Chubb, Jerome Baker, David Long, Duke Riley, Andrew Van Ginkel, Channing Tindall

▪ Who’s likely on the team: Malik Reed

▪ Who’s on the bubble: Cameron Goode

▪ Comment: While Reed is likely to stick as a backup outside linebacker, it’s not certain. There’s an outside chance a rookie could overtake him this summer. A little more than half ($650,000) of his $1.1 million salary is guaranteed…

Coach Mike McDaniel said he expects Tindall to make a big jump this season, but he still might have trouble cracking the top three among inside linebackers after playing only nine defensive snaps as a rookie. He’ll obviously need to overtake Riley to achieve that…

Per Pro Football Focus metrics, Long is far better against the pass than Elandon Roberts, who wasn’t re-signed and subsequently joined Pittsburgh. Roberts was a solid run defender, but PFF rated Long fifth best among all linebackers as a run defender last season, compared with 51st for Roberts. Baker was rated 30th…

Any slim chance of Baker exiting was eliminated when his $8.4 million salary for 2023 became guaranteed last week….

Chubb could thrive under new coordinator Vic Fangio. But also keep this in mind: Chubb has 20 sacks in 32 career games without Fangio on his sideline, 8.5 sacks in 25 games when Fangio was Denver’s head coach and their time intersected there.

SAFETY

▪ Who’s on the team: Jevon Holland, DeShon Elliott, Brandon Jones

▪ Who’s likely on the team: Elijah Campbell

▪ Who’s on the bubble: Verone McKinley III

▪ Comment: Jones and his former University of Texas teammate Elliott (a Lions starter last season) will compete for the starting job opposite Jevon Holland; both should play a lot. Their coverage metrics were similar last season…

McDaniel praised McKinley’s football acumen, but he will need to hold off rookies — and perhaps a veteran addition — to stick…

Campbell, who started at safety in the finale against the Jets, will try to push for a role on defense after playing just 80 defensive snaps last season. He seems to have the skill set that fits Fangio’s defense…

Jones is one of the best blitzing safeties in football, and the big question is whether Fangio will use him as a blitzer nearly as much as predecessor Josh Boyer did. Fangio plays his safeties back in coverage more than Boyer….

Jones, coming off torn ACL in his left knee in Week 7, said in January that “training camp, I should be — praying — full go by then.” If he’s not, should be ready for the start of next season? “Hoping so, yes,” he said.

Eric Rowe wasn’t re-signed and remains a free agent…

Tweets from the Trill Williams camp have suggested he might move from cornerback to safety; that’s unclear.

CORNERBACK

▪ Who’s on the team: Xavien Howard, Jalen Ramsey, Kader Kohou, Nik Needham

▪ Who’s likely on the team: Keion Crossen, Justin Bethel

▪ Who’s on the bubble: Trill Williams, Noah Igbinoghene

▪ Comment: Howard and Ramsey give the Dolphins two corners who easily could have been considered the best in the league at one point this decade. Both come off down seasons for them, but there’s no reason to think they can’t rebound. Ramsey is just 28. Howard is 29 and will turn 30 on July 4....

Needham — coming off a ruptured Achilles — said he expects to be ready for the start of training camp, but timetables are always uncertain with that type of injury. If he’s healthy, he will have a spirited competition with Kohou for the No. 3 cornerback job…

Crossen — a key special teams player — appears safe for now, but all of his $2.85 million 2023 base salary is non-guaranteed, so he will need to have a solid training camp. He played 36 percent of the Dolphins’ defensive snaps last season and allowed a 104.7 passer rating in his coverage area…

Igbinoghene, who had a game-sealing interception against Pittsburgh, logged 238 defensive snaps in nine games and two starts last season. He’s due to earn $2.1 million this season, with $1.6 million guaranteed. He’ll need to win a job in training camp.

Though he was a healthy scratch in eight games, Igbinoghene’s metrics weren’t bad last season: He had a 77.1 passer rating in his coverage area: 11 completions in 23 targets, for 134 yards, two touchdowns and that one interception…

After playing just 61 defensive snaps combined in the previous four seasons, Bethel logged 123 for a Dolphins defensive backfield decimated by injuries. And Bethel performed competently…

The Dolphins are eager to see Williams, who missed last season with a torn ACL. He appeared in one game as a rookie in 2021.