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    Miami Dolphins’ Week 8 Jalen Ramsey Decision: Shadow Marvin Harrison Jr. or Stick to Script?

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    Jalen Ramsey's value to the Miami Dolphins is his versatility. But there's reason to believe he'd be best suited sticking to Marvin Harrison Jr. in Week 8.

    MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — With all due respect to the ageless Calais Campbell, Jalen Ramsey has quietly been the Miami Dolphins’ best player in 2024.

    Campbell has made more plays. Ramsey has been more valuable.

    He’s the No. 1 reason the Dolphins have the NFL‘s No. 1 pass defense. And on Sunday, he should have a straightforward job: Take rookie receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. out of the Arizona Cardinals’ offense.

    If he can, the Cardinals’ pass attack will have no answers.

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    Miami Dolphins’ Jalen Ramsey vs. Arizona Cardinals’ Marvin Harrison Jr.

    It’s been an up-and-down first season for the No. 4 overall pick, but Harrison still leads rookies in touchdowns (four) and ranks third among his draft class in yards per catch (15) and fifth in catches (20) and yards (300).

    And he’s been the only deep threat on an otherwise pedestrian passing attack.

    When throwing to anyone but Harrison this year, Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray is averaging just 6.7 yards per attempt and one touchdown every 30.6 pass attempts.

    Certainly, the Dolphins should mix in coverages so that Ramsey isn’t on an island for 65 or so snaps. Plus, a few timely blitzes would be great, too. But his primary job responsibility should be to make sure Harrison isn’t the reason Miami loses.

    “I don’t think there’s a position on the football field he hasn’t played,” Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver said. “You blitz him sometimes like a SAM backer. We’ve put him all over the place, we’ve blitzed him from the corner position. I’m almost ready to put him at inside backer just to try to mess with these offensive guys.

    “But just love the kid and the intensity he brings to the game,” Weaver added. “His competitiveness and then just his overall football IQ allows him to play all of those spots seamlessly.

    “To me, it’s incredibly admirable what he, and Kader Kohou as well – I don’t want him to get lost in all of this because when Jalen does move, that requires somebody else to know the job too and Kader has been great. Just seamlessly moving those guys around and offenses trotting like the same people out there and when they don’t know where they’re going to be, that’s a problem.”

    Ramsey hasn’t had the splash plays yet this year, but good luck finding any DB who’s played better from a down-in, down-out perspective.

    Ramsey has logged 324 of 379 snaps. He’s allowed just 5.7 yards per target (9.1 yards per completion). He has four tackles for loss, along with five pressures on six blitz opportunities.

    Certainly, we get the argument that the Dolphins’ defense gets more predictable and perhaps less dangerous if you know where Ramsey will be every down.

    But the Cardinals literally have no other scary receivers. Kohou and Kendall Fuller are more than good enough to handle the likes of Greg Dortch and Michael Wilson.

    And if Ramsey is a one-man Harrison eliminator, it will allow Weaver to do exotic stuff up front to get pressure and slow down running back James Conner, whose 504 rushing yards are sixth-most in the NFL.

    “I think he’s a coach’s Swiss Army knife,” said Dolphins defensive lineman Calais Campbell.

    “Coach Weave can do a lot of things with him, and he’s been pretty impactful everywhere, but I think when he gets in that nickel and we blitz him a little bit, sometimes I think that really messes with teams. But can do it all and he likes to do it all, and so obviously, he’s a gold jacket guy for a reason. Great player and great teammate.”

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