The Miami Dolphins enter the 2024 with postseason-or-bust expectations. Better yet, Dolphins fans and the team should be using a deep postseason run as the litmus test for success, given that head coach Mike McDaniel’s ‘Phins have run into a brick wall in the Wild Card Round for two straight seasons.
Something else that McDaniel has dealt with for two straight seasons: working with a new defensive coordinator. McDaniel retained incumbent DC Josh Boyer when the offensive mastermind took over the Dolphins in 2022 and brought in veteran coordinator Vic Fangio when Boyer was dismissed in 2023.
Now, there’s a new face leading the defense – Anthony Weaver.
Who Is Anthony Weaver? Rising Star in Coaching Ranks Takes Over as Dolphins DC
Weaver is a former NFL defensive end who started nearly 100 games during a successful playing career with the Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans. He was drafted in the second round of the 2002 NFL Draft by the Ravens and spent four seasons with the team.
As a free agent in 2006, he signed with the Texans and played three seasons in H-Town, playing in 46 of 48 possible games and starting 44. Across his seven-year playing career, Weaver compiled 265 tackles, 34 tackles for loss, 15.5 sacks, and three interceptions.
Weaver began his coaching career with the Florida Gators as a graduate assistant in 2010 before securing his first job as a position coach – linebackers coach for North Texas in 2011.
2012 marked Weaver’s foray into the NFL. He bounced from the New York Jets to the Buffalo Bills to the Cleveland Browns between 2012 and 2015, first as an assistant defensive line coach in New York and then as defensive line coach in Buffalo and Cleveland.
Weaver’s star began to rise when he joined Bill O’Brien’s Texans in 2016, working under legendary defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel. Weaver spent four seasons as defensive line coach, learning from Crennel, until the longtime DC transitioned to full-time associate head coach in 2020.
O’Brian promoted Weaver to defensive coordinator that season, the latter’s first shot as a coordinator in the NFL. After O’Brien was fired during the 2020 season and David Culley was hired to be the team’s head coach in 2021, Weaver found the penultimate team of his NFL career, thus far.
Weaver returned to the Ravens, the team that drafted him nearly 20 years earlier and a destination that allowed him to grow from intriguing young coaching talent to future head coaching candidate.
Despite not being hired for a coordinator role, he was immediately given expanded responsibilities under head coach John Harbaugh. Weaver spent the 2021 season as defensive line coach and run game coordinator before receiving a promotion to assistant head coach.
Weaver’s three years in Baltimore, one of the most successful and well-run franchises in the NFL, put him in the national spotlight. He received two interviews for head coaching positions during the 2024 hiring cycle, with the Atlanta Falcons and the Washington Commanders.
And there’s little doubt he’ll continue to receive interest on the head coaching circuit in future seasons, especially if he has success coordinating Miami’s defense.
Early in 2024, the Dolphins parted ways with Fangio after just one season with the team. Fangio’s unit had success in Miami, but his coaching philosophy didn’t always gel with the team’s players, and he joined the Philadelphia Eagles soon after departing Miami.
Now, Weaver brings a fresh face to the defense. His coaching philosophy is one he took from his days under Crennel and Harbaugh. Talking about Crennel, Weaver told reporters in February, “He was very detailed in terms of techniques and fundamentals and what he expected from the guys. But more importantly off the field, he was extremely calm in the chaos, right? There’s a lot of ups and downs throughout the NFL season.
“You have some guys that ride the roller coaster. I don’t believe that. I think when you do that, your players are gonna react the same way. So I try very much to be the same guy every single day.”
Weaver also emphasized that he plans to apply pieces of what he learned under Mike Macdonald, Baltimore’s defensive coordinator in 2022 and 2023 and the new head coach of the Seattle Seahawks.
“I think the scheme that we used in Baltimore is extremely multiple and complex and the foundation of what we’re gonna do here will be from that,” Weaver said in February.
Miami’s preseason unofficial depth chart lists three defensive tackles and four linebackers, so it’s safe to assume Weaver will utilize the 3-4 base defense Macdonald implemented in Baltimore.
Weaver’s introductory press conference, in which he explains much of his coaching philosophy and what he hopes to bring to the Dolphins, can be found here.