Emmanuel Ogbah is back where his 2024 began: With the Miami Dolphins.
But the veteran edge defender will earn far less than he would have had the Dolphins simply kept him on the roster, rather than cutting him in February and then re-signing him on training camp report day.
Miami Dolphins Bring Back Emmanuel Ogbah
The Dolphins had moved on from Ogbah during the offseason after four productive years in Miami. His release saved nearly $14 million in cap space, part of which they used to sign his replacement, Shaquil Barrett.
But Barrett shockingly retired over the weekend, leaving the Dolphins with a big hole at pass rush, particularly with Bradley Chubb, Jaelan Phillips, and Cameron Goode all on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list.
Chubb, Phillips, and Goode each suffered season-ending injuries in 2023, from which their recoveries continue.
Ogbah was a poor fit in Vic Fangio’s scheme last year, but still finished the season with 5.5 sacks and nine quarterback hits in just 246 defensive snaps. He will presumably begin camp as a starter, and even when Chubb and Phillips return, expect him to play a significant role on defense.
The Dolphins don’t have much experience behind him at the position right now. The next two EDGEs on the depth chart seem to be rookies Chop Robinson and Mohamed Kamara.
Ogbah, 30, has the ability to play both with his hand in the dirt and standing up. That should work well in Anthony Weaver’s multiple scheme. The Dolphins’ scheme has swung wildly in the last three years, but our expectation is Weaver’s system will more resemble the Brian Flores/Josh Boyer system than Fangio’s.
That’s good news for Ogbah, who had 19 sacks in his three years playing in that Dolphins scheme.
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“it’s kind of like the tsunami approach,” Weaver said of his philosophy regarding the defensive front. “I’m half-Samoan, I lived in Hawaii for a little while. They always say the first wave of the tsunami does damage, but the second wave does the most damage.
“So for me, sometimes people get overly concerned about who is starting the football games — that means nothing to me. I want to know who is finishing the football games. I think you’ve got your best chance at finishing football games when guys are fresh. You can’t do that at every position — particularly when there are bigs out there running around in this heat, you’re going to want to rotate them a little bit.”