Dolphins assistant admits a critical flaw with this year’s team that Miami should aspire to avoid in years to come
Well, when you put it like that…
The Miami Dolphins‘ defense has been on something of a rollercoaster ride in 2025. Miami’s defensive effort in the first month of the season was, well, egregiously bad. It wasn’t ‘2019 Miami Dolphins’ bad, but it also wasn’t that far off. The Dolphins defense found their footing as this season moved forward, although the warts of the roster are still plenty evident in stretches. But as we reflect back on what this season had in store, it probably should not have been that much of a surprise thanks to the benefit of hindsight.
Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver conceded as much during his Tuesday press availability. Miami, in his eyes, desperately needs to avoid the same mistake of compounding two elements of change simultaneously. The issues have already been paid for in the form of a dismissal — but Weaver’s feedback should be taken to heart by whoever takes the reins of this franchise this winter.
Anthony Weaver confirms a flaw in the 2025 Miami Dolphins that we should have seen coming
“I think whatever we assemble as a group defensively, we need an opportunity to grow earlier. We need these people to be brought together (on the roster) earlier than they were. A lot of the guys that we ended up playing with either got here at the start of training camp, were kind of hurt in training camp, missed some of camp; so a lot of the growth we were trying to do as a defense occurred early in the season,” said Weaver.
“When you combine that with the youth movement we were trying to make, that’s what’s going to happen early. I think eventually it started to click for all of them in terms of what the expectation and what we were trying to get done, but we need to start to get that ball rolling earlier than August.”
Weaver did concede that the Dolphins defense “laid an egg” in Week 16 against the Cincinnati Bengals, which exactly how you should describe a 45 point showing by an NFL defense. For the second consecutive week, Miami defense paired a strong start with a soft heart of the game — and they’ll look to buck that trend in their final home game of the season against Tampa Bay this Sunday.
Miami Dolphins’ Defensive EPA Rankings Throughout 2025 season
- Year-to-date defensive expected points added (EPA): 23rd
- Weeks 1 through 4: 31st
- Weeks 5 through 8: 12th
- Weeks 9 through 12: 22nd
- Weeks 13 through 16: 10th
Weaver’s feedback on Miami’s early season struggles is valid, however. Miami’s defensive EPA per game ranking in Weeks 1 through 4 of the season was 31st in the league — and from Week 5 to present, it ranks 13th in the NFL. That includes the egg Miami laid against Cincinnati and the tough four possessions against Pittsburgh that blew their Week 15 loss open. When filtering Miami’s defensive EPA performance against teams with a .500 record or better since Week 5, the Dolphins’ defensive EPA per game ranks 10th relative to all other teams’ defensive performances against similar opponents.
This isn’t to say that the personnel is where it needs to be for the future. The pass rush unit has been a disappointment. The safety room beyond Minkah Fitzpatrick hasn’t been good enough. The play of Tyrel Dodson has left more space than you’d like at times in coverage. And there will be more changes this offseason.
But as Weaver points out, Miami simultaneously tackled a youth movement and a late influx of talent that ended up taking starting roles. Minkah Fitzpatrick, Jack Jones, and Rasul Douglas are all among Miami’s top-5 snap takers on defense this season — Fitzpatrick was the only one on the roster before training camp opened and he spent OTAs and the offseason program in Pittsburgh. It’s an indictment on the timeline former general manager Chris Grier operated on to get the dust settled on this squad. They say that coaches are supposed to put their players in the best position to be successful. But in this case, the general manager didn’t put his coaches in their best position to succeed and it trickled down to the players.
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