Jason Fox, Derrick Shelby About to Become Key Players for Miami Dolphins

If Dan Campbell is going to shed the "interim" label from his job title as Miami Dolphins interim head coach, he's going to have to do it without some of his best players in the trenches.

We've already learned that Campbell is a great motivator and leader of men, but we're also going to have to learn that he's got some coaching chops as well.

That's because the Dolphins will be without defensive end Cameron Wake for the remainder of the year and could be without right tackle Ja'Wuan James for 4-6 weeks, according to Andrew Abramson of the Palm Beach Post.

With both injuries, the immediate question becomes who will fill in for the two starters. The most likely answers appear to be Derrick Shelby at the defensive end spot and Jason Fox at right tackle. 

Shelby is highly likely to be the starter at defensive end—his was the first name that came out of Campbell's mouth when asked about the loss of Wake. 

"Shelby is, he's one of those guys that we're fortunate to have," Campbell said. "He's, I mean, every bit of a starter for us as a rotation type player, so you couldn't ask really for a better guy to come in and fill in for Wake obviously a lot more than he's been doing.

"I have a lot of confidence in Shelby. Shelby is one of those guys who he is fundamentally sound, and he's an explosive athlete. He's not the speed rusher that Cam is, but he's going to go in there and do a nice job for us."

Not many are quite the speed rusher that Wake is. The veteran defensive end has seven sacks on the season, tied for third most in the NFL through Week 8, and he has posted 70 sacks since he entered the league in 2009, third most in that span. 

That said, no one should expect Shelby to be the second coming of Wake. 

Fortunately for Shelby, the Dolphins coaches won't ask him to be the second coming of Wake. They will not, however, make wholesale changes to their defensive scheme because of Wake's injury.

"I don't know if you do things differently," Campbell said. "And there's still ways to fabricate some speed off the edge. We still have Chris McCain, who could be possibly up this week, and he's a guy who can generate some speed off the edge. Ultimately, if you don't have the speed off the edge, then you've got to push the pocket from the edge, and that's something that Shelby can do and (Terrence) Fede, for that matter."

Pushing the pocket is a strength of Shelby's because his game is predicated more on strength than on speed. He's not going to give the Dolphins that great first-step burst that Wake gave them in getting into the backfield, but he will give them enough power to create pressure by putting offensive linemen on skates and driving them backward.

That's part of what makes Shelby a different player. 

As for Fox, the Dolphins didn't necessarily hitch their wagon to him as the starter—although he was the first one to step in when James went down on Thursday against the New England Patriots. He has experience in the Dolphins offense, which will help him earn playing time, but the Dolphins know they have options with how they deploy their offensive linemen.

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"Jason has played a lot of football now," Campbell said. "He played football for us last year. He had a couple of rough snaps [against the Patriots] but really, coming in off the bench, he didn't do a bad job. We have confidence in him. He's a good athlete that can move his feet, which is what you want at tackle. Hey, every scenario is open for us. We could do a number of different things, but we have confidence in Jason Fox. That's why he's here."

A couple of rough snaps might be putting it lightly; according to Pro Football Focus, Fox allowed five hurries and two hits of quarterback Ryan Tannehill on Thursday night. Fox also filled in at left tackle early in the season, when Branden Albert missed time, but he struggled then as well and allowed six hurries, two hits and a sack in three games. 

So, it's not hard to understand why the Dolphins are keeping their options open. Campbell even went as far as to list Dallas Thomas as an option. 

"Yeah, well, Dallas did it for us last year," he said. "I mean that could always be a possibility. There again, we are kind of talking about everything. We are sorting through everything right now and just the beginning stages. Dallas has done a nice job. He really has improved over the last few weeks at guard. But hey, he's certainly athletic enough to play tackle."

In that sense, it would seem to be between Fox and Thomas, but this battle can't even be reduced to that extent. Omar Kelly of the South Florida Sun Sentinel points out it could even be a matter of discovering the best five linemen and settling on their positions after that discovery has been made.

At least on the offensive line, the Dolphins have some options to replace James, and it's only for a short time. With Wake, there's no way to replicate what he does without changing a few things, and Campbell already said they won't be making any dramatic tweaks to the defensive scheme. While that may not put pressure on Shelby to be the same player, it puts pressure on him to replicate the production.

Shelby has had some solid games in that respect, though nothing approaching Wake's level of dominance. Shelby's next sack will be his first sack of the season, and he has registered just 12 quarterback hurries and three hits this season so far. 

That being said, whoever steps in for the Dolphins is going to have some big shoes to fill. 

One of the main criticisms of the Dolphins over the years has been their lack of depth. For better or worse, we're about to find out what the depth chart is made of. 

Unless otherwise noted, all quotes obtained via team news release.