Miami Dolphins Can Rely on Dominant Front Four to Anchor Defense

Surrounded by question marks at the linebacker and cornerback positions, the Miami Dolphins should not be too concerned with the state of their defense. 

As usual, as long as their defensive line remains one of the best in the NFL, they will be in good hands.

Despite a lot of new names, the game will be the same. The Dolphins defensive line will pressure passers, suffocate lanes in the running game and set the tempo for the defense as a whole. 

Cameron Wake and Olivier Vernon are still forces off the edges, and with Ndamukong Suh, Earl Mitchell, Jordan Phillips and C.J. Mosley in the middle to plug the gaps, opposing offensive lines will have their hands full trying to block everyone on any given play.

The Dolphins have fielded stout defensive lines in the recent past, but Randy Starks and Jared Odrick were the defensive tackles. Those are two good interior defensive linemen, but Suh is one dominant, elite, disruptive force in the middle who can affect game plans and control a game if he gets going. 

Source: Erik Frenz, Bleacher Report

His presence alone will make life much easier for his fellow defensive linemen. 

With Suh on the line, unless the offense keeps a tight end as an in-line blocker to chip a defensive end, whoever lines up next to him will most likely be given a one-on-one blocking assignment. And even if the opposing offensive line keeps that tight end in to chip the defensive end, there will still be two one-on-one blocking assignments on the other side of the line.

"Well, again, it depends exactly what type of run schemes we're playing against," head coach Joe Philbin said of Suh's potential impact, "but I think one of the things that would come to mind is if teams are involved in double-teaming Ndamukong Suh, then sometimes what can happen is that they either hang on the double-team a little bit longer based on his ability to penetrate, which may free somebody up. But again, we're going to have to wait and see based on the different types of blocking schemes that we get."

No matter how you slice it, Suh's presence tilts the numbers in favor of the defensive line. But the defensive linemen aren't the only beneficiaries of Suh's presence and the dominance of the defensive line as a whole. 

Those aforementioned weaknesses at linebacker and in the secondary? Those weaknesses will look more like strengths thanks to the presence of four talented defensive linemen. 

The linebackers' jerseys will almost always be kept clean, allowing them to flow freely at the second level of the defense and make plays. The defensive line will rattle and hurry quarterbacks into errant throws, which means more inaccurate or off-rhythm and off-balance passes, which means easier plays for the defensive backs. 

The Dolphins are hopeful that the changes up front will bring about changes to their run defense, which was one of the worst in the league late in the 2014 season. In the final six games of the year, the Dolphins yielded 165.3 rushing yards per game to their opponents, which no doubt played a role in their 2-4 record in those games.

Now that he's part of the Dolphins, Suh thinks the defensive line has the potential to be part of the solution rather than the problem, according to Adam Beasley of the Miami Herald:

"

I think as a defensive line as a whole, no matter what, your run game is dependent solely on you guys. You've got to set the tone. The way we get off, the way we strike offensive linemen, the way we create a new line of scrimmage ... is very key and very important. We have to continue to do that every single play, every single opportunity the team feels like they can run the ball.

"

Player	Hurries	Hits	Sacks	PRP
Cameron Wake	39	14	12	12.1
Ndamukong Suh	37	12	8	8.4
Olivier Vernon	29	12	7	8.4
Earl Mitchell	18	15	1	5.9

The Dolphins have the talent to do it every single play, and with the talent level at other positions, they may want to make sure they're dominating every play just to play it safe. 

There's no reason to think that the Dolphins' linebacker depth chart is in bad hands with Koa Misi in the middle, Jelani Jenkins on the weak side and Chris McCain on the strong side and playing on the line from time to time.

Jenkins stepped into a starting role for the Dolphins last year, playing 912 snaps in relief duty for the injured Dannell Ellerbe, and had a solid season for himself by logging 83 solo tackles (16th in the NFL) and 110 total tackles (22nd in the NFL). 

Misi has played all over the defense, but he settled into the middle linebacker spot last year. He had only 50 tackles, but he also missed five games with an injury. He had a solid first season at his new position, playing behind the likes of Odrick and Starks. He could be even better behind Suh and the combination of Mitchell, Phillips and Mosley. 

Brent Grimes has been an effective cornerback, whether it's man coverage or zone coverage, throughout his career, but the Dolphins have question marks at the other post.

Jamar Taylor is expected to win the No. 2 spot, but he needs to come on strong in his third season after allowing 37 completions on 53 passes thrown his way (69.8 completions) with two touchdowns and without a single pass defended, according to Pro Football Focus.

Taylor has the ability to excel as a zone-coverage cornerback, with good reaction time and burst to see a play develop and get there in time to do something about it. 

That's all especially true if the defensive line is doing its job and getting after the quarterback, which will lessen the amount of time that Taylor will have to cover and will increase the possibility of an errant throw.

Really, no matter how you look at it, the Dolphins defensive line has the potential to change game plans. Even if it's not making the play on every snap, it'll be helping its teammates make plays instead.

Unless otherwise noted, all advanced stats obtained via Pro Football Focus and quotes obtained via team news release.